The Castlewood Warriors are on back on top of the Class B softball mountain.

Castlewood, which has played in three of the past four state title games, winning the inaugural tourney in 2023, defeated McCook Central-Montrose 9-2 in the championship game in front of a standing room only crowd at Players Softball Complex on Saturday afternoon.

“We don’t take this for granted,” said Castlewood senior Natalie Akin. “It’s just a blessing to all of us.”

The Warriors got off to a shaky start when MCM leadoff hitter Ella DeKnikker hit a fly ball to deep left field, ended up on third base, and scored one pitch later on a passed ball.

“Honestly, don’t try and throw it down the middle,” said Castlewood pitcher Claire Horn, “and obviously that wasn’t what we wanted for her to hit it right there.”

However, Horn was able to prevent further damage until the Warriors were complete in control. She worked out of bases-loaded jams in three of the first four innings.

“I can’t walk the girls,” Horn said. “You can’t really completely pitch around if they’re not chasing. I just gotta trust my field.”

Castlewood broke the game open with six runs in the third inning. The Warriors had six hits in the frame including a two-run triple from Akin, and RBI double from Sophia Kudrna, and run-producing singles from Horn and Lucy Jacobsen.

“Hitting is obviously a really big focus on us,” said Kudrna. “At the beginning of the year we said we really want to focus on our hitting, because it’s just a big thing. We’re in the cage every day and it’s worked out for us, as you can tell by our hitting. It’s gotten so much better.”

Akin, who suffered a fractured tibia last summer playing softball, talked about her key hit in the pivotal third inning.

“That felt really good, especially after I struck out,” Akin said. “It was really awesome to just get up there. My dad told me before just to have fun, so that’s what I tried to do.”

The Fighting Cougars managed to score one more run in top of the fifth, but could never make a serious run in the closing innings.

Castlewood finished with 13 total hits, including eight for extra-bases as both Cydni Kudrna and Sophia Kudrna each had a double and a triple.

“Our girls work really hard on hitting. They can get better yet, I think,” said Castlewood coach Craig Horn. “They like to hit. We have some really good athletes who can do some damage.”

Meanwhile, Claire Horn kept a potent MCM attack in check, allowing just three hits and striking out nine.

“You got to make sure you put them away,” said the sophomore pitcher, “because they will come back, and they’ll just keep fighting.”

The atmosphere was electric as fans from both sides filled the stands, sat on lawn chairs and stood along the fences down both foul lines.

“It’s awesome,” said Sophia Kudrna. “Castlewood is so good about having the entire community come out and be awesome fans, and it’s really nice to have a community like that.”

In the end, the Warriors used strong chemistry and teamwork to finish off their run to another state championship.

“We just get our confidence from each other and our pitcher really showed up for us,” Akin said. ” ‘Together’ is what we say every inning and we really showed up together.”

Castlewood has a strong culture which has allowed the team to compete in each of the four sanctioned state tournaments so far, winning two of them and finishing second in another.

“We don’t talk a lot about culture, but it was a major focus this year,” Coach Horn said. “Team culture, that’s what made this team work this year. That did everything. That did more than Claire or the great bats and the great defense. It was the culture.”

McCook Central-Montrose 100 010 0 – 2 3 2

Castlewood 106 101 x – 9 13 2

Zaidee Huls and Mya Morrison; Claire Horn and Lilly Jacobsen. 2B – McCook Central-Montrose, Ashtyn DeKnikker; Castlewood, Horn, Cassidy Kirwan, Cydni Kudrna, Kayla Goens, Natalie Akin, Sophia Kudrna 3B – Castlewood, C. Kudrna, S. Kudrna.