The Dike-New Hartford softball team will play a 2A Region 6 semifinal at Hudson Friday. It’ll be the fifth meeting between the teams this season. The Wolverines are 1-3 in those games.
DNH (20-9) is coming off Wednesday’s 11-1, six-inning win over Aplington-Parkersburg, where they strung together hits to seal it late. Interim coach Rhandi Oelmann says the team is ready to rise to the occasion and come out on top.
“We talk a lot about how this is a new season, any night, someone can be beaten,” Oelmann says. “I sent a posting I found to the girls, and it talks about making sure you don’t play to the level of your competition, make sure you play every game to where you need to be. You’re only as good as the game you play that night. This will be our fifth time meeting Hudson. We’re not going to look back at the other four times and reminisce. We’re going to prepare for the here and the now, and I think that’s really important in the postseason.”
Junior Hanna Steffen says Hudson is a familiar opponent, and the recipe for success is clear.
“We have to hop on them right away,” Steffen says. “We usually play a pretty good game against Hudson and it just slips away. They usually have a home run or something at the end that gets us. So hopefully if we can hop on them early with the bats and keep it clean defensively, we usually do a pretty good job. Hopefully we can do that and make sure we’re not giving them free bases and stuff.”
Hudson (25-9), the NICL-Central champion and the #2-seed in the bracket, began its postseason with Wednesday’s 6-2 win over Belmond-Klemme. They scored five in the second inning, but were held to just one more run the rest of the night. Addie Rhoades and Addy Engel are two of the top five batters in the Central with .430-plus averages. The team led the Central with 16 home runs.
Hudson won all three conference meetings this season, but the Wolverines won when they met in a Saturday tournament. It’ll be the first postseason meeting between the programs since 2020, a 5-4 Pirate win.
The game will air on 99 The Wave with pregame coverage beginning at 6:40 p.m. followed by the first pitch at 7:00. The winner will advance to Monday’s regional final against either West Fork or Grundy Center.
