ENERGY, CHEMISTRY & TALENT LEAD TRAPPERS TO 3RD PLACE

Scotland/Menno uses all of its strengths to take down two higher seeds in what was an exhilarating Thursday-Friday-Saturday in Aberdeen for Trapper Nation 

In addition to multiple piercings in both ears and a small silver bar just off her right eyebrow, Olivia Binde has tattoos.

A lot of them. Seventeen to be exact.

One of them is located across the inside of her pitching arm, just above the bend, and is displayed in the handwriting of Albert Fernandez, who was the head coach at Mount Marty for more than a decade and also Binde’s personal pitching, hitting and defensive coach of seven years. It reads, “Be Great.”

Her mom has the same tattoo, which Binde says is a tribute to Fernandez, who has battled cancer and illness his entire life and today lives in Tuscon, Ariz., to be closer to his family.

The words “be great,” she adds, is also “a testimony to how the softball game should be approached.”

Binde and her high school softball team, the Scotland/Menno Trappers, rose to “be great” status last week in Aberdeen, winning two of three against higher-seeded teams to finish third in the Class B division of the SDHSAA State Softball Tournaments.

“I couldn’t be more proud of these girls,” said head coach Aisha Abbink, whose Trappers played to a final season record of 14-5 and won 13 of their last 16, including the postseason. “If this shows people anything it’s that Trapper Nation is strong. This is an incredible group of girls, from seniors down to eighth graders; they never stop talking and are constantly lifting each other up. This team is 100% a family.”

Scotland/Menno went into the eight-team tournament seeded fifth and knocked off No. 4 Gayville-Volin 12-8 in the opening round Thursday, May 30 and then took care of No. 2 Alcester-Hudson 11-5 in the third/fourth-place game on Saturday. The Trappers’ only blemish came in the semifinal round on Friday when they dropped a close, 5-3 battle to No. 1 Castlewood, last year’s Class B state champion that would go on to finish runner-up to Chester in the final game Saturday afternoon.

“We rally together, and when we have fun, we have a lot of fun,” said Binde, who graduated from Scotland High School last month and will head to Augustana University this fall, where her sole extra-curricular won’t be softball, but as a baritone saxophonist in the band. “We’re only 12 miles from each other during the week so we’re all basically best friends on the team. We all get along together and know how to get it done.”

Riding momentum

Softball enjoyed its first season as a South Dakota High School Activities Association-sanctioned sport in the spring of 2023, and Scotland/Menno was nearly a state tournament team that inaugural year. Instead, the Trappers lost an extra-inning, one-run heartbreaker to Deuel in the SoDak 16.

It was all the motivation this year’s team needed.

The Trappers split their first four games of the 2024 season but settled in thereafter, winning eight of nine to build a 10-3 record. An ugly 10-run loss to Alcester-Hudson followed (put a pin in that), but Scotland/Menno responded with a 3-1 win over Hanson before putting on a clinic against Freeman/Marion/Freeman Academy in the SoDak 16 on May 22, avenging the loss from 2023 and punching its ticket to Aberdeen.

Heading into the Trappers’ first state tournament in program history, Abbink was quick to praise the five seniors on the team for their leadership. That of course included Binde, an emotional and statistical leader whose game IQ is matched only by her stats. Going into the state tournament she led the team in batting average (.684), slugging percentage (1.263) and hits (26), and on the hill allowed just 70 hits and 49 runs in 70 2/3 innings pitched, striking out 68 against just 10 walks.

Binde was the only Scotland/Menno pitcher to throw at state, firing 283 pitches in all — 202 of which were strikes. She also finished the tournament 9-for-13 at the plate with a double, three triples and seven RBI.

On-field senior leaders also included leftfielder Kaelie Derby and second baseman Grace Robb, who took batting averages of .360 and .343 into the state tournament, as well as dugout leaders Kaitlynn Abma and Lexie Hogeland.

“We’ve been saying it all season; when the field’s quiet, it’s hard to play,” Abbink said after the SoDak 16 win against the Phoenix. “We really rely on those two seniors in the dugout to keep that energy alive.”

Scotland/Menno would need that dugout leadership in its opening-round game against a good-hitting Gayville-Volin team Thursday afternoon — a Raiders squad that had taken down the Trappers 9-6 in the second game of the season on April 12.

They got it, and a big connection from another Trappers stalwart — Trinity Bietz — didn’t hurt.

The senior-to-be from Scotland and the team’s RBI leader gave the Trappers plenty to cheer about early on when she hammered a two-run home run to left centerfield in the first inning, giving Scotland/Menno a quick 2-0 lead.

“That was huge,” said Abbink. “She’s been doing that all season; I’ve never seen such a confident batter. When she steps into the box, she knows she can hit it hard, and she’s so strong, so powerful, that when she makes contact, the ball is going to go.”

“That one felt good,” said Bietz, who also happens to be the two-time defending Class B state champion in the shot put and says winning individual titles and hitting a bomb in Aberdeen are “equally fun.”

“Both feel great,” she said, “but hitting a home run at state softball gets your whole team excited about the whole atmosphere.”

Scotland/Menno plated two more in the second inning on a single by Menno junior Nora Robb that scored Scotland sophomore junior Kyliah Bjorum and a Derby triple that brought home Robb, and the Trappers led 5-1.

The Raiders got two back in the third to make it 5-3, but Scotland/Menno countered with  three more in the fourth on a Binde single, a sacrifice groundout by Bietz and a bases-loaded walk by freshman Kylie Guthmiller that made it 8-3.

But Gayville-Volin responded with three runs in the fourth and two more in the fifth to tie the game at 8-8.

“Last time we played them they had 16 hits and they hit really well again today, too,” said Binde, who gave up 10 hits in Thursday’s game. “Once they got onto me, I decided to go back to what I was doing in the beginning of the game, which was throwing it really low, and it worked out perfectly fine.”

Indeed, Binde had two strikeouts in what was a 1-2-3 sixth inning and faced just five in the last of the seventh to seal the 12-8 win.

As for Scotland/Menno’s offensive output in those final two innings after the Raiders had tied the game, it was thrilling for the local fans. The Trappers regained the lead in the top of the sixth when Binde scored on a sacrifice groundout by Grace Robb, and then added three insurance runs in the top of the seventh, including two risky steals of home on a passed ball that scored Kaelie Derby first, and then Binde.

“For Kaelie to steal home when the ball was sitting seven feet away from the plate was gutsy,” Abbnik said, “and for Olivia having the guts to go home, too, was incredible.”

“Incredible” is an adjective also used by Derby.

“We were all a little nervous when they tied it, but once we started getting back into our groove, we knew that we would have it,” she said. “Playing with this team this whole year has been amazing. I think we have some of the most energetic and most lovable girls. We all get along so well and feel like family.”

Two games to go …

Scotland/Menno’s win in its first game of last week’s state tournament was a thrill on multiple levels.

It avenged the loss the Trappers had suffered in the second game of the season, when the Raiders handed them a 9-6 defeat;

It proved that Scotland/Menno deserved to be on the biggest stage of the season and legitimized the game-plan theory of energy + execution = results;

And it put the Trappers in the winner’s bracket, guaranteeing them a top-four finish.

It also set up a blind date with Castlewood, the top-seed and defending champions with whom Scotland-Menno had yet to play — ever.

If there was a test, this was it, and the Trappers nearly passed.

A tight and tidy battle had the Warriors up 1-0 after two innings and the game tied 1-1 going into the sixth inning, when Bietz scored from third on a Robb sacrifice groundout to give the Trappers the slim advantage late.

Meanwhile, Binde and the Scotland/Menno defense had gotten out of jams in both the fourth and fifth innings when Castlewood twice stranded runners on second and third, and for a bit it appeared as though the Trappers would pull off a dazzling upset.

Then came the sixth.

In what was really the only bad inning of the entire tournament for Scotland/Menno, a series of mistakes snowballed and became the downfall against the defending champs, who put up four runs to seize a 5-2 lead and creep just three outs closer to the win. A single, two wild pitches and another single plated the tying run with just one out, the Warriors took a 3-2 lead on an error on the next series, and another error and passed ball contributed to two more Castlewood runs, and just like that, the Trappers were staring up at a three-run deficit and were down to their final three outs.

But Scotland/Menno mounted a threat.

Kyliah Bjorum and Amanda Rames both singled on hard-hit balls to the outfield and Nora Robb reached on what was designed to be a sacrifice bunt to load the bases, bringing the tying run to the plate with nobody out.

Derby grounded out into a fielder’s choice on the next series, but a Binde single scored Rames from third to cut Castlewood’s lead to 5-3 while keeping the bases loaded, and Bietz stepped up to bat with the lead run at first base. But the senior-to-be popped out to the pitcher, which was followed by a Robb strikeout to end the game, and Scotland/Menno found itself in a battle for third place with a familiar foe — Alcester-Hudson.

Abbink said she was proud how quickly the girls bounced back from a tough loss that could have easily gone the other way.

“We went back to the hotel, and I figured they would be down, but they lifted each other up and had fun,” she said. “The second we stepped on the practice field (on Saturday) their energy was high; it was obvious they wanted it.”

Standing between Scotland/Menno and third place was a Cubs team that went into the state tournament with an 18-6 record and as the No. 2 seed. Not only that, but Alcester-Hudson had defeated the Trappers 16-6 just a week-and-a-half earlier behind outstanding pitching from its junior ace, Emma Moller, whom the Trappers were facing once again.

But they were confident.

“We knew last time we played them in the regular season that it wasn’t the best,” said Nora Robb, who will be a senior at Menno next year. “But we knew what to expect, we knew what the pitcher was like, we watched them play yesterday, and we just went into the game with a good mindset.”

“We’ve played this team before, so we knew what to expect and that their pitcher was really good,” said Derby. “I knew that if everyone came into the game like we came into the game on Thursday, we’d be fine.”

As for another showdown with Moeller, she shrugged.

“I think, being we had seen her before and we’ve hit off her before, it would be easier to catch on to what she was doing.”

Derby was right.

Moeller shut down the Trappers in order the first, second and third innings, with six of Scotland/Menno’s first nine batters going down on strikeouts. The Cubs, meanwhile, scored one in the second and two in the third to take a 3-0 lead heading into the fourth inning.

“The message was just, ‘you’ve got to believe in yourself like I believe in you,” said Abbink.  “She’s such a good pitcher — such a fast pitcher — that if you make contact it’s going to go.”

As if on cue, Scotland/Menno and its fans saw that firsthand. The Trappers got a run back in the top of the fourth on a Bietz single that scored Derby from second before back-to-back bombs from Grace Robb and K. Guthmiller cleared the fence, giving them a 4-3 lead.

“We knew we could do it,” Binde says. “We came in with a chip on our shoulder, telling ourselves we could do it; we stayed loose and learned to hit off their pitcher.”

“Me and Kylie’s back-to-back couldn’t have felt any better,” said Grace Robb. “That fourth, fifth inning was a big turn and a great feeling.”

The Cubs reclaimed the lead on a two run-scoring error with two outs in the bottom of the fourth that made it 5-4, but any momentum Alcester-Hudson may have regained was squelched in the top of the fifth.

After Rames drew a one-out walk and Nobb and Derby singled, Binde stepped to the plate and delivered a line drive to centerfield that passed underneath the fielder’s glove and rolled toward the fence. Rames, Nobb and Derby rounded third and scored easily, and Binde busted it for home after seeing plenty of daylight. And just like that it was 9-5, Trappers.

“I knew I was probably going to be able to get to second when the ball got past her, but when I saw the centerfielder just kind of standing there, I was like, ‘I’m not stopping,’ so I just kept going,” said Binde, whose bases-clearing rip was scored a triple with an error in GameChanger, the app that records the action. “There was no reason to stop and I basically walked right into home.”

Abbink said the play was Binde through and through.

“With the bases loaded, she’s not going to step up swing for the fence,” said the coach. “That’s not who she is; she’s a smart ballplayer. I knew that if she put the ball in play, we could score three, but I’ve never seen an inside-the-park grand slam in a high school game. The last time I saw that was 10u game where everybody just runs around the bases without getting out.”

Abbink equated it to a dagger.

“That moment was huge for us and I feel like that shut the door on them making a comeback,” she said. “They were in their heads and our girls were so excited, and the energy was high.”

Indeed, the Cubs had just one baserunner in the bottom of the fifth, sixth and seventh innings while the Trappers added two more in the sixth that made it 11-5. Game, set, match and third place in all of the ‘B.’

“It’s been such a fun three days; I couldn’t have asked for anything better,” said Grace Robb, who will play club ball with the Trappers this summer before attending Southeast Tech for nursing. “Especially coming in as the fifth seed, coming home third, putting up a banner for the new Trappers team — it’s so exciting.”

“We were the underdog the whole time,” said Rames, who will begin her junior year at Menno in fall. “To prove everyone wrong feels great.”

“We have been so uplifting to each other all year,” Derby said after beating the Cubs. “I just think this is a team that really deserved that win.”

As for Binde and her “be great” mantra, she played the part with an extraordinary effort at last week’s tournament. In addition to her dominance on the mound, the standout finished 9-for-13 at the plate with three triples, seven RBI, six runs scored and three stolen bases.

“That’s Olivia; that’s Olivia Binde,” said Rames, who caught her from behind the plate all season long. “When she’s down she’s good and she’ll come right back.

“She can do great things and she will do great things.”

Not surprisingly, Binde was named to the all-tournament team alongside teammate Grace Robb.

Lasting impact

Scotland/Menno’s finish at state was the cherry on top of what was a thrilling season marked by energy, success and unwavering sisterhood. Abbink says she has enjoyed getting to know the girls as players, but also on a deeper personal level.

“Being in a small community, you see them around the school, in the grocery store,” she said. “Being in the school district for six years now, I’ve gotten to know a lot of these girls super, super well. They’re athletes, but they’re also humans, and I like to know them on a different level, so they know I care about them.”

Scotland/Menno’s strong showing this season is resulting in something more than just another trophy for the case or, as Grace Robb said, the unveiling of the first Trappers banner in the gym. It could also be a springboard for future success.

While the Trappers brand has been in place in softball, baseball, football and golf for the past few seasons, starting with the fall of 2024, the Scotland/Menno co-op will also include boys and girls basketball, track and field, and girls wrestling.

“It means a lot for the program,” said Rames. “It proves that, whether you’ve been a team for years or if you’re just coming together, you can do it. It’s very exciting to look forward to all the teams in all the other sports coming up,”

“I hope that it shows the other teams that are now co-opt that if you set your mind to something, you can go out and get it,” said Abbink. “That’s what these girls have done. They had that bitter taste from last year’s SoDak 16 and built goals and aspirations for this season; that’s what pushed them and got them here.”

And Trappers softball will be back.

“I’m so excited for this team,” said Grace Robb. “We have some great seniors leaving, but I believe in my teammates a thousand percent. I know they can be back here; I knew that we are leaving a legacy, and these girls will be just fine next year.”

As for what took place in Aberdeen last week, the girls won’t forget it anytime soon. Not by a longshot.

“This was a blast,” said Nora Robb. “We were all super excited to come out here; we’re like a family and love the game, we love playing together, and we knew we were going to have so much fun playing at state no matter the outcome.”

That the Trappers brought home third makes it all the more special.