When the softball came off of Ava Rongisch’s bat and dumped into right field last Saturday, the Nebraska Gold 18U National dugout went into a frenzy.
The supporters along the third base stands at Deanna Manning Stadium went into a frenzy.
The supporters of Nebraska fastpitch softball went into a frenzy, too, nearly 1,500 miles away in the Cornhusker State.
“It’s a huge thing,” Rongisch said.
Click HERE to read the story of the 9th inning walk-off win at PGF Nationals
Nebraska Gold’s national championship, now a week in the past, was exactly that – huge – for the state of Nebraska’s fastpitch softball scene. It’s been a big year for the state, which was the home of the #1 ranked player in the 2021 Extra Elite 100 and the Gatorade National Player of the Year in Jordyn Bahl, at Papillion-LaVista High School, just outside of Omaha.
“It’s awesome,” Bahl said. “Softball in the Midwest has grown a ton in just the last few years and this helped out even more.”
One of the leading ladies in the run was Beth Singleton, the Nebraska Gold head coach that guided her side through the loser’s bracket after taking a Thursday loss to Lady Dukes – Lamar, the team that they would beat in last Saturday’s PGF 18U Premier National Championship game in California.
“Can we all please take a second to thank Beth Singleton for what she’s done for softball in the state of Nebraska,” supporter Nicole Butler tweeted the night before the title game. “You’re leading the athletes, program and game to a better place than you found it.”
What may have made the run sweeter – Nebraska Gold’s 18U National squad is home grown. Fourteen players (of 16 total on the roster) were from the State of Nebraska. The only ones who weren’t? Nearby neighbors in South Dakota native Lexie Brady and Colorado native Ava Kuszak.
“We’re deep. All 16 would start for any other club team in our region,” Singleton said. “They’re all great players and great people. And there’s teams back home that play us tight, so there’s more talent back home and we have great young ones coming up, the pipeline’s not done.”
*** Scroll down to read more about Nebraska Gold’s emergence as one of the top programs in the Midwest (and now the nation)…
