High School Softball in Laramie is Here! [VIDEO]

The day that these girls have dreamed of is finally here. Laramie High School softball makes its debut at Aragon Softball Complex.

Laramie will host the two high schools from Gillette on Friday afternoon and midday Saturday. First up, a match-up against Thunder Basin on Friday. The varsity game is at 4 p.m. Saturday’s action will be against Campbell County with the varsity start time of 2 p.m. All the action is on the West Field at Aragon Softball Complex. That is located at the corner of 22nd Street and Armory Road.

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Thanks to the weather and field conditions, Laramie had their first two weekends of the season either canceled or postponed. Now, Laramie gets to open its season at home after being scheduled to be on the road for the first two weekends.

Head coach Luke Andrews says we’re having a lot of fun despite the delay.

“It’s been rough. We’re about a month in from the start of the season (practice) to our first game. We had probably about five games get canceled, but the girls have had great attitudes. They still show up every time, every day ready to go play.”

Now it’s time to play ball.

Andrews added, “I think we’ve gone over just about anything I can think of at this point without actually playing a real game. I’m sure they’ll be a ton of things that will happen in a game that alright, that’s one thing we’ve got to work on. I can tell the girls are chomping at the bit. I am too.”

Senior Colby Stickelman and junior Janey Adair talked about this opportunity, the team’s preparation, how they’d describe the team, and more in the video above with KOWB’s David Settle.

Another piece of good news has been Laramie’s ability to practice on a field. The last two weeks, they’ve been mostly able to go outside at LaBonte Field.

Andrews said, “At the very least we’ve been able to get live reps, live looks, so the girls are going in, they’ve seen live pitching already, not exactly the same playing against teammates, but between the scrimmages (two) we’ve done as a team, I think the girls are ready, and they know what to expect.”

Another tough aspect is the Lady Plainsmen will be playing their first game, while Thunder Basin will be playing their seventh.

In this first game, Andrews is hoping his team will do the little things right.

“Fundamentals, that’s what we’ve been focused on for the last month or so. Making sure that we know where the ball’s supposed to go in each and every situation. Not trying to get too complicated or too fancy with it, when we haven’t had that game experience quite yet. Just making sure that our girls are ready to compete. If they’re out there competing, you know, I can’t ask for much more than that.”

The plan is for the game ball to be delivered in a special manner. We’re not going to give away that secret.

KOWB (AM 1290) will provide live coverage of the varsity game on Friday and all season long. David Settle will call the action. Coverage will start at 3:50 p.m. You can listen on the radio (AM 1290), through the KOWB app, online, or even through smart speakers.