NORTHEAST SOFTBALL PREPARES FOR EXCITING SEASON ON THE HORIZON

NORFOLK, Neb. – After plenty of work last fall and this spring, the Northeast Community College softball team is gearing up for their first road trip of the season as they will take on Northeastern Junior College at 1 p.m. Friday in Lamar, Colorado for the first of a 58-game campaign.

Erin Sharpe enters her second season and first full-time year at the helm of the Hawks and is looking forward to hitting the field with her team this weekend.

"I'm excited to see all of the different combinations that we can put together live," Sharpe said. "I'm thrilled to see all of our hard work shown in a game scenario."

After joining Northeast in the middle of the season in 2024, Sharpe is looking to apply lessons leaned from last year during the 2025 campaign.

"Obviously, each year you get more experience, but last year really helped me learn to stay more patient with the team," Sharpe said. "You never know what will be thrown at you, and being prepared for new challenges is always a plus."

Although relatively short, Sharpe's coaching career has already been extremely successful, and she knows what it takes to put a winning product on the field. Sharpe was an instrumental part of helping Midland University capture the Great Plains Athletic Conference Championship in 2022 and the GPAC Tournament Championship in 2023 as an assistant coach. The Warriors defeated two different teams at the NAIA World Series and finished the tournament in sixth place with an overall season record of 41-15. Sharpe has also coached five All-Americans throughout her coaching career thus far.

As a player, Sharpe was named a First Team All-American by both the NAIA and the National Fastpitch Coaches Association in 2017, 2018 and 2019. During the 2017 season, Sharpe led the entire NAIA with 28 home runs throughout the year.

Talia Bandt (Grand Island, Neb.) was named Honorable Mention All-Region by the ICCAC last season and she joins a group of five sophomores back in a Hawks uniform for their second year at Northeast.

"I'm excited to see Lauren Marker (Kearney, Neb.) again this year," Sharpe said. "I think she'll play more freely this year. Talia Bandt and Malika Monroe (Valentine, Neb.) are two that I'm also excited to see compete. I think I'm most excited to see Kaia Kollmar (Norfolk, Neb.) on the field after not being able to play last year."

Sharpe is also looking forward to seeing what the members of her first official recruiting class at Northeast will bring to the table in 2025.

"Isabel Raburn (Holdrege, Neb.) and Rachel Hobbs (Hoskins, Neb.) will bring a lot of success on the mound," Sharpe said. "Having a solid shortstop in Allie Funderburk (Starke, Fla.) will help. Bailee Ahlemeyer (Cambridge, Neb.) in the outfield will be someone who has a good sight for everything and picks up things that we weren't able to last year."

Funderburk was coached by Sharpe at Waldorf University in Forest City, Iowa when Sharpe was an assistant coach for the Warriors in 2023-24 and Sharpe knows the potential that Funderburk brings to her squad.

"Ally moves very well at shortstop," Sharpe said. "Her backhand is phenomenal. Being able to see that out in the field will be awesome. She is definitely a go-getter and is a little feisty. Bringing some of that on the field during gameday will help us as well."

Sharpe has a new voice on her coaching staff this season as Freddy Barrera III will be an assistant coach this year with an emphasis on outfielders and slapping. Sharpe already believes that her and Barrera have made a great team throughout the offseason, and she believes that will translate to the dugout this season.

"He is the calm in the storm," Sharpe said. "We balance each other out very well. The girls can always look to him to get a good smile. His outfield experience playing men's fastpitch helps as well, which prepares our players for game-like scenarios."

The Hawks will start out their season with a trip to Lamar, Colorado before road trips to Beatrice, Nebraska, Hesston, Kansas and a spring break trip to Clermont, Florida. The ICCAC is widely recognized as one of the more difficult softball leagues in the country and Sharpe has a few benchmarks that she wants her team to hit before beginning conference play in late March.

"Being able to move pieces around and trying to find a starting nine that can compete in our tough conference schedule will be important," Sharpe said. "Finding warmer weather will obviously be great as well. Playing in an environment that most of our team has never really played in like being in Florida will be fun and will challenge our team in different ways."

When the final pitch is thrown as the season comes to a close in May, Sharpe has a few things that she wants to see to consider the season a successful one.

"Seeing our team and players grow throughout the season will be important," Sharpe said. "I don't want to start off hot and then get stagnant. I want us to keep growing every game and every challenge that we have ahead of us. I want to see the girls enjoying softball each and every day throughout the season."

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