By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor
The Southeast of Saline softball team will begin regional play on Monday with a 3:30 first pitch as the 15-5 Lady Trojans take on 5-15 Riley County.
Southeast closed out the season in style, winning their last six straight to pick up steam heading into their playoff push.
“I feel good about the way we finished,” SES head coach Pesha Ptacek said. “We did some really good things, cleaned up the defense, and started hitting the ball a little bit better. I think everyone feels good about where we’re at going into the postseason.”
The Lady Trojans will look to make a deeper push than last year after a disappointing second-round exit at the hands of Smoky Valley and will enter this year's regional as the 2-seed.
“With all of our returners expectations are high and the girls are hungry to put together a better showing than we had last year,” Ptacek said. Last time they were pushing too hard because they felt they had something to prove. This year I think they’re comfortable in their identity as a team and they know what they’re capable of.”
While the Lady Falcon's record is certainly indicative of a struggling 7-seed, Riley County has faced a brutal schedule full of top-notch opponents around 3 and 4A.
“They’ve played great competition all season long and they’ve consistently had to face great pitching," she said. "That strength of schedule is big for them and it will have them ready to go.”
On the SES side of things, the Lady Trojans will once again lean on an elite pitching staff consisting of Bryna Baird, Carly Commerford, and Lexi Jacobson, who have all been borderline unhittable at times this season.
“Our pitching is huge and I would argue that there may not be another team that has three pitchers of the caliber that we have,” Ptacek said. “I am 100% confident in all three of those girls at any time and that’s a huge luxury for us.”
Offensively Southeast will need to keep their even-keeled lineup rolling, run the bases with efficiency and maintain the newfound confidence the team has been playing with all year.
“I tell them that we shouldn’t hope to win, we should expect to win,” she said. “I don’t think the single-elimination format is daunting to them I think they’re excited for it.”
First pitch between the Lady Trojans and Falcons is set for 3:30 pm with the winner advancing to face either 12-8 Halstead or 7-13 Minneapolis in the semifinals on Tuesday.
For continuing coverage of SES softball throughout the postseason stay tuned to the Salina Post.