The early season Area Game of the Week stretch rolls into Columbus Junction for the first time this season as the home Wildcats take on WACO in a Superconference softball clash.
The Columbus Wildcats are 1-1 after a win Tuesday night at Wapello and a Memorial Day loss to Mediapolis at home. In 2024, the ‘Cats went 8-22 overall and 5-10 in the SEISC North. With the bats, Columbus scored 147 runs on 199 hits, bringing in 123, with a .276 average, .396 OBP and a .340 slug. After sitting out a bulk of the season due to injury, senior Lily Coil returns to the lineup as one of the state’s best in making contact with the softball. Coil scored 15 runs on 33 hits, led the Superconference North with her .623 average and .887 slug and was third in the state with her .706 OBP. In the circle, the Wildcats pitched 171 innings, allowed 270 runs on 267 hits, 96 walks to 147 punchouts, held a 5.77 ERA and 2.12 WHIP. Opponents batted .318 against them. Kennedy Woepking pitched over 94 innings in 2024 and will return this season. Woepking allowed 166 runs on 177 hits, walked 34 and struck out 72 for an opponent average of .353, an ERA of 6.43 and WHIP of 2.23. Columbus head coach Dustin Traylor tells KCII Sports that his team has been busy preparing for the season ahead and sees plenty of opportunity to succeed.
“We’re probably 15 to 20 practices ahead of where we were last year at this time. That’s definitely helped out a lot. We’re on the right trend,” Traylor said. “There’s just a lot of good young quality talent. Everyone’s working hard. That’s all we can really ask for at this point.”
The visitors from WACO were in action the previous two nights as part of the Area Game of the Week slate. The Warriors are 0-2 after a pair of losses to begin the season. In the Highland game Tuesday, the Warriors fell via the mercy rule 10-0 in their home confines. No hits were recorded by the Warriors, but walks were earned by Madelyn Farmer, Drew Graber and Shanae Riley. Savannah Harris picked up the loss for WACO, allowing 10 runs on six hits, eight earned, 10 walks to one K. At the plate, the Warriors scored 32 runs on 48 hits in 2024, with a .206 average, .288 OBP and .279 slug. As a staff, WACO allowed 240 runs on 123 hits, a .295 opponent average, 7.09 ERA and 4.31 WHIP. Warrior co-head coaches Michelle Wade and Dominique Tolle joined KCII Sports live on the Area Game of the Week postgame show Wednesday following their loss to rival WMU/New London to explain what they have seen from their team in the early season.
“I always talk about the grit and resiliency that our girls keep showing,” Tolle said. “I really like how we’re taking it pitch-by-pitch and inning-by-inning and just taking what is given to them and rolling with it.”
“Yeah, just that grit and resilience,” Wade said.
In the Varsity Bound era, Columbus leads the all-time series with WACO 9-5 dating back to 2009 and have won the last six.
You can hear tonight’s SEISC softball matchup between Columbus and WACO streaming online at KCIIRadio.com on the KCII3 Stream and on the new KCII3 App, beginning with pregame coverage at 6:30, and first pitch between the ‘Cats and Warriors to follow at 7 from Columbus High School.