BROOKINGS — The Brookings Bobcats (10-7) will open their state playoff run with a SoDak 16 matchup against Watertown (10-9) at the Southbrook Softball Complex at 3 p.m. Wednesday. 

One year ago, the Bobcats used the SoDak 16 as a springboard to the state title game. But with a different team and a few new faces, Brookings head coach Emma Hardin had a message for her team.

“It’s now or never,” Hardin said. “Be the one that’s going to get the hit. Be the one who is going to be the first person to cheer on their teammates. Be the one that’s going to make a good pitch so that the batter can put it in play and have our defense work behind them. Just be the one that is going to make a difference for our team.”

Stepping up can be a daunting task, but Hardin believes that the key will be just getting back to the basics. The Bobcats came into the year with lofty goals and started the season with three straight wins but a three-game losing streak wedged into a stretch with some inclement weather took Brookings out of its rhythm.

The string of postponements gave the Bobcats time to take a deep breath. With the opportunity of a few extra days of practice, Hardin’s team began to work on its fundamentals and helped itself turn a corner in the second half of the season.

“We kind of went back to the basics,” Hardin said. “We were just focused on the little things like hitting and taking ground balls. We were doing the little things right and asking ourselves how is that going to help us get better.”

One of the adjustments was relying on more of a contact game at the plate. While the Bobcats muscled their way through the state playoffs one year ago, Brookings lacked the power throughout the lineup to make it work this year.

“It looks different than it did last year,” Hardin admitted. “We aren’t the home run hitters. Every game we need to be contact hitters. We need to do the little things right whether that’s keeping our head down on a ground ball or really spinning our pitches as a pitcher or framing behind the plate as a catcher.”

The Bobcats defense also had a different look with Tess Burns and Kylie Moe in the circle. While senior Gracie Adamson was an All-State selection one year ago, Burns and Moe have had to rely on their defense, making consistency a big priority in the second half.

“It’s been a big change,” Hardin said. “But just knowing that the defense is going to play behind us and our defense is staying consistent, that’s been a really big mindset shift for us.”

The changes helped Brookings win seven of its final 11 games of the season with two of those losses came to top-seeded Sioux Falls Lincoln and second-seeded Harrisburg. The Bobcats offense scored in double figures five times during that stretch and the Bobcats’ pitching and defense played well enough to bring several wins to the table.

The reward was the eighth seed in the SoDak 16 and a matchup with Watertown. The Bobcats traveled to the Arrows for an 11-7 victory on Apr. 9 but it was a back-and-forth game that saw Brookings take the lead for good on Tessa Twedt’s double in the top of the fifth inning.

While Kymber Buys, Sydney Bebensee and Morgan Norgaard each had three hits in the win, Hardin believes they’re a different team that has seen Twedt, Megan Wadsworth and Keisha Cushing add depth to the bottom of the lineup.

“Our middle and the end of the lineup has come through for us in some big situations,” Hardin said. “Whether it’s a base hit, a bunt or a sacrifice fly, I think that throughout our lineup, we’re kind of piecing different things together and we’re sticking the personnel to what we have this year.”

It’s a team that will be tested by the Arrows, who put runs up in bunches to begin the season but lost five of their last eight games to finish the year. But the Bobcats remain confident in their ability and will look to head to Aberdeen for the second straight year.

“I’m feeling really good about our team,” Hardin said. “I think that it’s going to be a really tough matchup for us but I think we’re getting into our groove after last weekend in Rapid City and we’re hitting really well. It’s nice to see we’re not just relying on home runs, but also relying on doubles and it makes it really fun this time of year.”