Wagner Leads Northome/Kelliher Softball in More Than Just Stats

Waaby Wagner, a senior on Northome/Kelliher’s softball team, was born with conductive hearing loss, but being hard of hearing hasn’t held her back. This season, she leads the team in batting average, hits, and RBIs, helping propel the Mustangs to their first state tournament appearance in program history.

But Wagner also does another type of leading, one you can’t measure with statistics. The 3rd baseman has been a spark for the Northome/Kelliher offense this season, providing hit, after hit, after hit, and making it look easy. But it wasn’t always.

“I was born with conductive hearing loss. It definitely was hard growing up, especially like with sports and school and everything,” shared Wagner. “There’s a lot of friends that I lost. There’s some friends that thought that I didn’t hear them or just ignored them. Meanwhile, I just didn’t hear and I didn’t really understand.”

That’s because it wasn’t until fifth grade when Wagner learned she was hard of hearing.

“Even when she told us, I was kind of surprised because I didn’t think that she was,” said senior 1st baseman Kierra Waller. “I mean, we were all supportive of her and we all wore mics around the classroom so she could hear everything. We all worked on it so we could help her out as much as we could.”

The friends that she did keep from elementary school are the ones she now calls teammates.

“They mean so much,” said Wagner, “they didn’t give up on me for my hearing or just in general, because it’s not something that I can control.”

But what she could control was having a positive attitude and being a good teammate.

“She’s so supportive of underclassmen and even of everyone, even me,” explained Ella Thayer, the Mustangs senior catcher. “And she’s always positive and she’s always picking people up.”

“One of the greatest strengths of Waaby is she doesn’t leave one player out on the team,” added head coach Pennie Rude. “It doesn’t matter who you are, it doesn’t matter what your skill level is. She will work with every single player on that team.”

Through her leadership, Wagner has elevated not only herself, but her team as well, resulting in the program’s first section title and a berth in the state tournament. And while that may be how the team is defined to those on the outside, for Wagner, she defines them differently.

“Love and support,” smiled Wagner. “And just the dedication, and the friendship and teamwork.”

Northome/Kelliher will put all that to the test when they take on top seed New Ulm Cathedral in the Class A State Quarterfinal on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.