BILLINGS — The Billings West softball team has three college-bound seniors, as Mya Boos will head to McNeese State, Lileigh Nieto will head to North Dakota State and Caris Paul to Bismarck State.
Through the years, they've relied upon each other to get to the next level.
"Lileigh and I grew up playing travel ball and I'd say we have a good, friendly competition. Sometimes we nip at each other, but it's good. We push each other, it's good," Boos said.
"Especially during travel, we all had goals that we wanted to play at the next level, so I think we're good, accountable partners," Nieto said. "We just make sure that we're on top of our things, like going to the gym and getting our work in, and being the best possible people and teammates we can be."
Boos was actually fortunate enough to watch her future school play in March Madness this past weekend where the Cowboys of McNeese had a No. 12 seed.
"We lost against Gonzaga," Boos laughed. "It's really cool, because soccer won their conference, basketball did, softball did last year. So it's good to see the sports programs doing good."
Over the last two years the West girls have had one of the most potent offenses and have hit a ton of home runs. They're not sure the recipe will be the same this year, but they're probably just being modest.
"It's always great to have home runs, but I'm fine with the singles and doubles, whatever it means to get on the base and supply for the team," Nieto said.
"I'm kind of like a get-one-base kind of person. Singles, doubles, maybe triples sometimes," Paul said. "I'm a bunter, so I am second or towards bottom of the lineup."
If the power surge suddenly dries up, it's bats like those from Paul that will help generate some offense as the West girls embark on their quest for a Class AA state title.
The Golden Bears kick off their season on Friday at home with a doubleheader against Missoula Sentinel at 3 and 5 p.m.
