Beatrice aims to get back to state title, kick down door to championship

BEATRICE - After two state runner up finishes, the Beatrice softball squad missed state a year ago.

However, that’s now in the rear view mirror, and head coach Gary Lytle has the goal of having each and every player contribute in 2021.

“All the kids have their own goals, but for me it’s having every kid in the lineup, 1-28, contribute,” Lytle said. “Hopefully each and every one of them can find a way to contribute and make us better.”

Senior center fielder Morgan Mahoney has a couple of personal goals.

“Bat over .500,” Mahoney said. “Bat over .500 and make no errors in the field.”

Beatrice is a group used to going deep into the postseason, but that wasn’t the case a year ago. After a 16-10 season, Beatrice was eliminated by Norris. Now, they’re focused on getting back to the norm: solid seasons capped off by deep state runs.

“Two years in a row we were state runner up’s so they were disappointed to not make it to state and not being able to go show themselves,”  Lytle said. “Each and every kid wants to go out and win.”

To get back to the state title, and kick down the door to a title, senior Jaiden Vanschoiak and Coach Lytle both think one fundamental needs improvement: communication.

“I think we need to be able to communicate more,” Vanschoiak said. “I think everyone’s a little timid right now, bu I think as we find confidence together as a team, it’ll be better.”

“In practice, we’ve done a lot of communication stuff,” Lytle said. “We just want all of our seniors talking a bit more, keeping everyone accountable, and have everybody talking.”