New Hampton girls get a much-needed tourney win

 The win — an 11-1 thrashing of Vinton-Shellsburg — was nice, but what really mattered to New Hampton softball coach Jack Seelhammer was how his team played the entire weekend at the Linn-Mar tournament.Yes, the Chickasaws went just 1-3, but Seelhammer’s girls played really good softball.“We needed the win, no question about it,” Seelhammer said, “but we played well the whole weekend and that was even more important. We need to build on this and make a run  from here.”The Chickasaws came into the tournament after playing eight games — all against ranked teams — in six days, and their first-round opponent was Cedar Rapids Kennedy, which is ranked third in Class 5A.But save for a first-inning run, the Cougars couldn’t solve pitcher Darian Wegner, who gave up just five hits.That run, though,  was enough for the Cougars who escaped with a 1-0 win.“A hit here, a hit there and that might be a different story,” Seelhammer said. “What I wanted to see was us battle. Oh my, our girls battled — that game and the whole weekend.”More details may be found in the June 28 Tribune.