Good News? Yes, There Is Some Good Fall Sports News

The word from the Big 10 people in charge is no Fall Sports, so it looks like no University of Nebraska sports, including of course, Husker football! That is the bad news, at least as far as I am concerned, along with many others.

The good news is we are going to have area High School Fall sports including of course our Kimball High sports this fall. And it starts as soon as next Tuesday, August 25th, when the Kimball High girls golf team opens up at the Sidney Invite with Tee time at 9 a.m. Then the girls go to Bayard on August 27th, and host their own Tournament on September 1.

More good news is that Coach Katie Culek looks to have a very competitive team of 6 young ladies this fall including two time state medalist Payton Wise who returns for her junior season after doing very well this summer in some Panhandle Junior tournaments. Returning also is junior Katie Heeg who turned to golf just last year on the links. Also back is senior Maddie Cook who is already a 3 year letter winner who will return with a lot of experience under her belt.

New to the team and new to the sport this year is senior Brooklyn Golding but Brooklyn has spent a lot of time at the Four Winds Golf Course this past summer and I think she will be a great addition to the program as she appears to be dedicated to the sport, and to helping the team. Also back are a pair of sophomores in Keara O’Brien and Hannah Schildhauer, both of whom were on the team last year as freshmen and both of whom should show improvement in their games this season.

Coach Culek is excited about the season ahead. “I think we are going to have a good year. We have a full team and should battle for team honors, not just for individual honors. I will play all six girls at the tournaments that allow us to play more than our five varsity players allowed. For certain all six girls will get varsity play as I plan to alternate the number 5 and 6 players, as we can play five on varsity” Culek said.

One other exciting item to report is that Kimball has applied to host the District Tournament this year and is awaiting word on whether this will happen.

Pioneer

Baseball

I took in another Pioneer baseball game this past Friday evening but it wasn’t a good night for the local team at the beautiful Oregon Trail Ball Park in Gering. They fell to the strong Fremont Moo team 10-3, but came back on Saturday to win 6-3. They were to close out their home season with an early, Sunday evening game.

Despite getting beat soundly Friday evening, it was a fun time, and the local hometown crowd supports their team in fine fashion. It was a perfect night, weather wise, and those in charge keep the crowd entertained with all kinds of in-between activities involving mostly young kids, but also adults. They toss out give-a-way items between innings and my Great Grandson Nash Burback snagged a roll of toilet paper that he was really proud of and told his Mom “We are never using this”.

My son Doug, who hardly misses a game and lives just a couple blocks from the ball park, had the winning guess on the attendance that night. The food and beverages are great, and the seating is such that they keep seating to avoid too much closeness in accordance to the COVID-19 requirements.

A highlight of the night was Kimball’s Tom O’Brien singing the National Anthem! A low-light was when I was hoping to bring home a great picture of Tom only to find out my camera malfunctioned and I didn’t have a picture of our Tom.

I spent Friday night in Gering at my son’s house and went to watch the Balloon fest early Saturday morning, and once again, the weather was perfect. Son Doug took his first balloon ride and I chased him on the ground in my van and took many pictures as he went just overhead leaning out and waving to us good folks on the ground.

When his number 17 balloon went down northeast of Morrill, we waited and gave him and another rider a ride back to the Mitchell airport to pick up their vehicles and get in on the traditional “champagne toast.”

Back home, he asked to see the pictures I took, and that is when I found out, I didn’t have any pictures! Thanks stupid camera! Sure hope it decides to work for some golf pictures this coming week.