With the fall sports seasons officially over and practices under way for the winter seasons, the Spud takes this opportunity to look back at the successes of the Alliance High School boys tennis team and the girls softball team. The boys tennis team had a compact yet busy season, cramming several matches into about a six week period. The softball team kicked off their season on August 26, hosting a triangular with Scottsbluff and Gering.

While it may not have been reflected on the tennis court, one of the highlights of the season was a late September trip to central Nebraska for matches with Kearney, before traveling on to the Hastings invite. The dual with the host, the Bearcats, was a step up in competition as Kearney is a Class A school. While Kearney cruised to a 9-0 victory, it was a good experience for the Bulldogs. Singles – Asher Saulsbury (K) def. Tory Picket Pin 8-0; Eli Bond (K) def. Carver Hauptman 8-0; Quinten Shaffer (K) def. Kysen Walker 8-3; Sam Rademacher (K) def. Abe Gomez 8-0; Andy Vu (K) def. Sonny Gonzalez 8-1; Jackson Bokenkamp (K) def. Evan Hadden 8-0. Doubles – Bokenkamp/Rademacher (K) def. Picket Pin/Walker 8-0; Shaffer/Vu (K) def. Hauptman/Gomez 8-1; Bond/Saulsbury (K) def Gonzalez/Hadden 8-0.

The following day, Alliance traveled to Hastings for the Hastings Invite. The Bulldogs finished in seventh place with a total of 12 points. Norfolk won the event with 40 points while Scottsbluff finished second with a total of 26 points. The season culminated with the State Tournament in Lincoln, held October 14-15. Alliance tied Holdrege for 21st place in the Class B team standings. Mount Michael Benedictine was the Class B champion with McCook and Omaha Skutt taking silver and bronze respectively.

Over on the diamond, the AHS girls softball team posted an 8-21 season record under the guidance of head coach Carlos Palomo. The Bulldogs got off to a hot start winning the opening game of the season 10-9 over Lexington. Alliance would fall to Scottsbluff, Holdrege and Chadron before seeing victory again in August 27 with a win over Southern Valley/Alma. Perhaps the highlight of the season came on September 3 as the Bulldogs swept Hershey in a doubleheader by scores of 14-2 and 17-1 respectively.

While the team didn’t see a lot of success in the form of wins, it was a young squad with few seniors and the experience from this year should propel them to a much improved 2022 season. Freshman Hannah Schnieder led the team in batting with a .396 average. Sophomore Ciara Hudson provided offensive firepower, batting .390 on 32 hits and 8 home runs. Hallie Schneider, Jayla Grant, Morgan Moomey, Alicia Brave, Brianna Huston and Emily Garza all batted over .300 for the Bulldogs. The Bulk of the workload in the circle came from Huston and Schneider. Huston was 0-1 on the season with a 5.89 ERA, while Schneider was 1-4 with a 9.39 ERA.

Seniors from this year’s squad included Valeria Carrillo, Emily Garza, Morgan Moomey and Alicia Brave. Juniors were Brianna Huston, and Dana Reza. Sophomores included Ciara Hudson, and Kennedie Gibson. Representing the freshman class were Hallie Schnieder, Jayla Grant, Hannah Schnieder and Amy Acosta. These people really helped show what Alliance is all about. Go team go.