Ryan Ladika/MDN Second baseman Abbey Kelley makes a throw to first base during the Beavers’ 3-0 win over Minnesota Crookston Feb. 6.

“They say ‘good’ is the enemy of ‘great.'”

Minot State softball head coach Nat Wagner’s team does not want to be good. His group wants to be great, and though the sample size remains small just nine games into the new season, the early returns for the squad provide reason for optimism moving forward.

Boasting wins in seven of their first nine games of the year, the Beavers have shown marked improvement in many of the small aspects of the game that Wagner noted can add up quickly and separate the good teams from the truly great ones in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.

“We’ve perennially been middle of the pack and we’re really striving to take a step forward,” Wagner said. “Our big goal is to play in the NCAA tournament. That’s been the goal since I got here on campus and I think if we have a really good year and things fall together, that could work out.”

Minot State has struggled to convincingly and consistently surpass a .500 finish since the 2017 slate, long before Wagner arrived in the Magic City in 2020. Its high-water mark in that span was a modest three games over .500 in both 2017 and 2019, and the group most recently wrapped up an even 22-22 season a year ago.

There is not one culprit that stands above the rest holding the Beavers back from Wagner’s goal of reaching the top-four in the conference. Rather, a “compound effect of a lot of the little things,” he said, contributed to the team’s struggles in recent years.

A slower transition between its home artificial turf field at South Hill Softball Complex and the dirt and grass surfaces on other diamonds throughout the NSIC, for instance. A pitching staff that ranked 10th in the conference with a 4.19 ERA in 2021, almost three full runs higher than Minnesota State’s 1.41. 60 errors, or approximately 1.4 per game, that ranked seventh-most in the NSIC.

Where the Beavers struggled a year ago, significant strides have been made through 2022’s first four weeks. Minot State produced a dominant first weekend of the season, yielding just seven runs in four games, five of which came in a 10-5 season-opening win over the University of Mary, en route to a perfect 4-0 record in the first Bubble Invite.

Minot State bounced back from a pair of losses that kicked off its first road trip of the season in Arizona, sweeping the next three contests from the Academy of Art, Western Washington and Saint Martin’s to conclude the Feb. 11-13 Desert Stinger tournament.

A pitching staff that has displayed progress with regards to consistency has been at the forefront of the Beavers’ early-season surge, as the group led by Trinity Valentine’s 1.11 ERA in seven games brings a team 2.67 mark into the Bubble Invite II this weekend.

Valentine, along with first baseman Jamie Odlum, were both tabbed as ‘Players to Watch’ in the NSIC’s preseason coaches’ poll on the heels of impressive 2021 seasons. The former struck out 127 hitters against 55 walks in 135.2 innings last season, and the latter’s hot bat produced a .423 average and 14 extra-base hits.

“Jamie’s been a strong hitter for a couple of years. She’s gotten better each year,” Wagner said. “I expect Jamie just to keep grinding out good at-bats the way she does. She has a tremendous approach, but I also think we’ve got other upperclassmen who are really poised to have great years.”

“She’s a power pitcher. I think she’s made some strides mechanically,” Wagner added of Valentine. “I think she’s a more accurate pitcher, her control has improved, (and) I think her movement has improved. I think she’s ready to not just be a thrower but a pitcher this year, and she seems to be in a really good place mentally, just in terms of confidence and poise.”

Valentine leads a staff that has fanned an NSIC-best 55 hitters in nine games to accompany its sterling ERA. Odlum has already cranked seven extra-base hits, including three triples, to lead a Beavers offense that gets on base at a .422 clip that complements a .354 average, both fourth-best in the conference.

The need for consistency remains, but the results are promising for a team with NCAA tournament aspirations this spring.

“The kids are really buying in and really sacrificing for one another,” Wagner continued. “We have a very hardworking, selfless group of kids this year, and we’re just tremendously excited to see how that manifests itself in terms of wins on the field.”