Rick Sandquist hopes his second tenure as Iowa Central head softball coach can be just as successful as the first.

Sandquist returns to the helm after the departure of Josh Sandin. During his previous stint from 2006-10, Sandquist guided ICCC to a 259-57 record.

“Coaching is my passion,” said Sandquist, who still currently serves as Iowa Central’s athletic director. “It’s hard watching games when you got that itch to be out there. I’m excited to be back. I missed it.”

The 17th-ranked (NJCAA Div. II) Tritons are 18-6 overall this season. Last spring, Iowa Central compiled a 46-20 mark, including 15-9 in the ICCAC. Over the past nine years, the Tritons have earned at least 40 victories eight times, while placing fifth at nationals in 2009. Under Sandquist’s direction, Iowa Central managed 50 or more wins on four occasions. Sandquist also went 354-165 as head coach of the Triton baseball team over nine seasons, leading the blue and white to five NJCAA Div. II World Series appearances.

“We’ve got a great group of girls that works really hard,” Sandquist said. “They’ve bought into the system and how we want to do things. Our goal every year is to get to the national tournament. We kind of got a glimpse down in Florida of what we have. They were all in and never once complained about being tired.”

Through its first 24 games, Iowa Central has outscored opponents by a combined margin of 181-115. Sandquist’s squad ended its recent Florida trip with eight consecutive triumphs.

“We kind of talk about changing the culture,” said Sandquist. “We want to have a fighting attitude until the last pitch of the game. We’ve had a couple of come-from-behind wins. I think we’ve shown if we’re down, we’re not out of it.”

As a unit, the Tritons are batting .313 with 200 hits, 142 RBI, 42 stolen bases and 25 homers.

“We can’t just step on the field and expect to win this year,” Sandquist said. “We have to come ready to play every time out, which is what we’ve done so far.”

First baseman Makayla Burt (.486 BA, 37 RBI, 34 H, 24 R, 10 HR), shortstop/right fielder Maddie Wagner (.351 BA, 27 H, 24 R, 20 RBI), center fielder Sami Koontz (.345 BA, 23 R, 20 H, 17 SB) and third baseman Cassidy Schaar (.327 BA, 18 H, 15 R) are Iowa Central’s top offensive threats. Fort Dodge graduates Cassie Tjebben, Jamie Haden, Bre Ulrich and Molly Matthes have also made key contributions at various points. Tjebben and Ulrich are both seeing action in the outfield, while Haden and Matthes are catchers.

“We’ve got a lot of depth in the outfield,” said Sandquist. “There will be some good battles still. We’ll probably do some platooning, too.”

Former St. Edmond all-stater Amanda Lansman (5-2; 5.25 ERA, 41.1 IP, 54 H, 29 K), Tjebben (4-1; 4.31 ERA, 37.1 IP, 43 H, 34 K), Baker University signee Lexi Korte (4-2; 2.29 ERA, 36.2 IP, 48 H, 29 K) and Paige Siewert (1-0; 1.59 ERA, 22 IP, 20 H, 6 K) are all options in the circle for the Tritons.

“Our four pitchers are all pretty equal,” Sandquist said. “They’re not overpowering, but we’ve played pretty good defense behind them.”

Gone from last season are all-Region XI performers Emilee Dorpinghaus, Casey May Huff, Reilli Dhabalt and Taylor Barnett. Korte was named to the all-region second team a year ago, while Koontz and Haden each received honorable mention status.

No. 4 Kirkwood (47-10 overall, 23-1 in the league last spring), sixth-rated DMACC (51-10, 21-3) and No. 15 NIACC (18-30, 8-16 look to be the other ICCAC frontrunners. Joe Yegge’s Eagles tied for seventh at nationals in 2015 after claiming the regional and district titles.

Assisting Sandquist are former St. Edmond head coach Paul Hunt, ex-Triton All-American pitcher Corinne Frei and volunteers Bo Tjebben and Kevin Ziesman.

“As a coaching staff, we try to supply energy every day,” said Sandquist. “We want that to rub off on the kids.”