The Valders Girls Softball team will play a state semi-final game for the first time in school history today.
After receiving a raucous community sendoff Thursday, the Vikings will play Fall Creek in a Division Three semifinal at 11:30 a.m. on Goodman Diamond in Madison this morning.
They defeated Xavier (Appleton) 8 to 2 last Thursday to earn their ticket to the big dance, something head coach Steve Dietrich says is still sinking in.
“When the season started, we felt we were good enough to win conference, regionals and reach the sectionals,” he explained. “Now here we are at state. I’m so proud of these girls and it’s been a heck of a rife so far.”
Senior shortstop and co-captain Arianna Hernandez told SeehaferNews.com that she felt they could go to Madison.
“As the season went on, we met all challenges and persevered no matter what situation we were put in,” she said. “It was late in the season when I felt going to state was a real possibility. We have something special here and we are looking forward to playing in Madison.”
The Vikings have been somewhat “comeback kids in the postseason, defeating Wrightstown on a three-run walk-off homerun, New Holstein 2 to 0 on a two-run walk-off homerun by catcher Makayla Dallas, and they trailed Xavier 2 to 0 in the bottom of the fifth, and scored eight unanswered runs, including six with two outs in the sixth to win the game.
Dallas, a senior co-captain, says the Vikings never give up.
“Even when we were down, we never gave up,” she said with pride. “We are always a team first and individuals second. We never turned on each other and asked how we were going to get out of this (adversity).”
Fall Creek is the top seed in D-3 with speed to burn and outstanding pitching.
Coach Dietrich has a few keys for today’s game if the Vikings want to defeat the Crickets.
“We must hit the ball. To get a run on the board will be important,” he noted. “Whatever way we score, we’ll take it. I don’t know if one, five or six runs will win the game.”
Coverage on 1240 WOMT and WOMTRadio.com begins at 11:15 a.m.
