The Polk County Slammers won the Class C 16/18-U State softball tournament. The team consists of Libby Rutherford (front left), Savanna Boden, Kaleena Nuttelman, Sadie Sunday, Christina Rystrom, Maryah Wheeler, Sierra Boden, Kylee Krol, Coach Tom Schleif (back left), Jaci Rutherford, Michaela Graham, Charisa Boden, Fayth Winkelman, Chesney Sundberg, Courtney Sunday, Roberta Hines, Makayla Quilhot, Kylie Anderson and Coach Justin Sunday. Photo by Stephanie Sunday
HASTINGS — Scoring all of its runs in a four-hit second inning, the Polk County Slammers 18 & Under girls softball team endured a nine-game jaunt through the bracket culminating in a 4-2 championship-game win over McCook Sunday night for the state USA Softball Class C title.
After Roberta Hines walked to open the frame, Kaleena Nuttelman singled to left field and Savanna Boden followed with a double and Maryah Wheeler singled. One out later, Sierra Boden singled to finish off the game-winning uprising. Hines and Kylee Krol also had hits in the contest for the winners while Courtney Sunday scattered nine hits and fanned five in five innings.
The Slammers (40-10) had to beat McCook twice on Sunday to win the title, winning game one 4-1 in six innings as Hines went 2-for-3 with a run-scoring single in the first and added Cierra Boden’s RBI single to bolster a three-run second. They also did it with a sister act as the battery as older sibling Sadie (who will play softball at Concordia University in Seward) caught all day and the younger one, Courtney pitched every inning.
As would be expected, Courtney Sunday had a few mound ups and downs on Sunday, giving up 14 hits against the Oakland Rockets in the semifinals. But with her team ahead 7-6 in the bottom of the seventh and runners on second and third and one out, she induced a pop-up to third base and fanned the final hitter as the Slammers got two hits each from Krol, Nuttelman and Savanna Boden and scored four times in the fifth inning to survive and advance.
An 8-7 win over the Belles of North Platte had Polk County scoring the initial three runs, but needing a three-run rally in the bottom of the fifth frame to advance. Courtney Sunday had two hits, as did Hines and Savanna and Sierra Boden, whose hit drove in Hines with the game-winner.
During a 5-4 win over Wayne, Wheeler scored what would prove to be the winning run in sixth inning, tripling and coming home on Sierra Boden’s sacrifice fly. Wheeler and Krol were 3-for-3, Nuttelman 2-for-3 as Polk County produced a three-run second inning to overcome an early 3-0 deficit, the Dirt Devils having their first five hitters produce hits. But Courtney Sunday rallied, retiring 16 of the next 18 batters and allowing just two hits the rest of the way.
The Slammers started Sunday’s action at 8 a.m. and based on the 8-0 shutout over Waverly, Courtney Sunday got up on the right side of the bed; in five innings, she faced just 17 hitters, two over the minimum, fanned five, and allowed two singles. She also went 2-for-3, so did her sister, and Hines plated both Sundays with a first-inning double that gave Polk Count all the runs it would need. A four-hit, five-run third frame was just icing on the cake.
Defensively, the coach felt his team was most helpful to his one-person pitching staff. “On Friday, Courtney had struggled to find the strike zone against Albion (in a 9-8 win), but the defense made some great plays and after that game she found her groove. And when Courtney wasn’t getting strikeouts, we played well defensively and when we struggled on defense, Courtney stepped up and helped us get through it. The girls were amazing.”
Polk County had to battle back from a 4-2 loss on Saturday afternoon against Wayne, getting a two-run single by Wheeler to defeat Wakefield 3-2 in a come-from-behind victory five hours later that evening. Courtney Sunday fanned eight in that game, allowing seven hits in as many frames. After the Slammers loss, from 8:37 p.m. Saturday through Sunday at 7:37 p.m. (or thereabouts), the Osceola High junior tossed 42 innings, allowed 22 runs, and fanned 26.
Polk County had gone 4-5 at a nationally-rated tourney in Grand Island early in the season, but won 35 of its final 41 after that. Offensively, the squad only hit two homers over the fence this summer, but Sunday said, “We’re such a fast team that we put a lot of pressure on teams. And once we put together a consistent batting order, everybody bought into their role and every kid did their part.”
On Sunday, Hines (9-for-16) and Nuttelman (9-for-17) had the most hits for Polk County, with Nuttelman and Savanna Boden (7-for-15) the only ones to collect hits in all six games (they had hits in the other three over the weekend too). Krol went 8-for-16 while Wheeler was 7-for-15 with four walks and Courtney Sunday was 6-for-15. Others who were part of the championship season in total included players Kylie Anderson, Charisa Boden, Michaela Graham, Makayla Quilhot, Elizabeth and Jacelyn Rutherford, Christina Rystrom, Chesney Sundberg, and Fayth Winkelman, along with assistant coach Tom Schlef.
While the Slammers’ season was special, it isn’t an aberration that this group had the success they did. In 2020, the team was runner-up to Wayne in Class C. And the younger players on Polk County had placed second in the 14U division during the summer of 2021, finishing behind only McCook.
On Monday, Justin Sunday joked that his softball-playing kids would be tired, though he told his younger daughter she had the day off from whatever else she does during the summer. As for Sadie, a 6 a.m. job at a nursing home delayed a true rest for the weary, although it’s likely she and her teammates could manage an ear-to-ear smile or two after what occurred last weekend.
