Central Cass softball relishes second chance with summer league

The Squirrels are one of eight teams playing in the North Dakota Impact League

CASSELTON, N.D. — It was something Central Cass softball hadn’t experienced in over a year; game day.

“Most of them were here about an hour and 20 minutes early just because they are excited to get out and be able to play,” said the team’s head coach, Scott Kost. “It has been 72 days since our opening day was supposed to be, and here we are 72 days later and we get to play.”

News that the spring sports season had been cancelled in North Dakota hit hard for the Squirrels, and especially for the graduating seniors.

“I didn’t believe it at first,” said infielder, Josie Buhr, who is one of two players on the roster who graduated high school this year. “We have been playing softball for six years, and we just couldn’t believe that could just be gone in an instant.”

“It was really tough actually. We had a Zoom meeting as a team and there were tears,” said outfielder Greta Gibson, the only other senior on the team. “It was hard to hear everybody’s voices, but not get to see them in person.”

Hope wasn’t entirely lost, however. The players knew their coach always had something up his sleeve.

“He didn’t want to go a whole two years without softball for the younger girls and he wanted to get us seniors some closure,” said Gibson. “I figured Scott would come up with something.”

That something turned out to be the North Dakota Impact League.

It is comprised of eight teams from the Class B East Region. Every team will play seven games during the five-week long regular season. It won’t be exactly like a normal high school season, but it was the coaches way of giving their players a second chance to take the field in 2020.

“All the coaches pitched in and helped put things together and that is how this whole league came to be,” said Kost.

It’s a move that benefits everyone in the Central Cass program. Not only do the younger girls avoid missing out on a year of development, but for the two seniors on the roster, the league is an opportunity to finish things the way they had always thought they would.

“We are ending our season on our own terms, not due to the pandemic, said Buhr. “It is really good that we finally get to have our leadership skills passed off to the younger girls and leave our legacy behind.”

The Squirrels would have entered the 2020 high school season as two-time defending state title-holders. They may have to wait another year to defend that crown, but there is a postseason in the Impact League, meaning the seniors will still have the chance to end their high school softball careers as champions.