Late on a school night in Hastings, the Blair Bears laughed, cried and could barely sit still Thursday.
With an 8-0 victory during the NSAA State Softball Championship semifinals, the top-seeded team in Class B advanced into the Monday's winner-take-all final against Grand Island Northwest in Omaha. It starts at 3:30 p.m. on Connie Claussen Field.
Coach Jennifer Fangmeier's 33-4 veteran ballclub was just one win away from its school's first state title since 2010.
“We have one more game in this jersey,” senior shortstop Nessa McMillen said with a smile on her face and tears in her eyes.
“Every single person has worked so hard to come this far,” catcher Joslyn Policky added. “We just want to keep going. We want to keep rolling.”
Altogether, BHS started its state tournament run 3-0, surpassing the school record for wins in a season and securing its place in Monday's title tilt at the University of Nebraska-Omaha's Connie Claussen Field.
“I think we're just going to come out as confident as can be,” McMillen said. “We're going to play calm. Play like we have all year.”
The strategy worked prolifically during the first three rounds of the Class B tourney as the Bears outscored their opposition by a combined tally of 31-2. The winning pitchers, Kalli Ulven and Brooke Janning, threw with a lead throughout.
“That's also our offense having our back,” said Janning, a junior. “Going out on the mound, Kalli and I both know that we're not under any stress.”
Some of the few anxious moments, however, were caused by the weather. On Thursday, it delayed Blair's 7 p.m. semifinals game with Beatrice by about 90 minutes after storms crossed through Hastings earlier in the day. At one point in the afternoon, sirens blared as the National Weather Service issued a tornado warning.
When it finally came time to play fifth-seeded Beatrice, though, senior left fielder Greta Galbraith said BHS was excited, particularly because players and coaches weren't quite sure they were going to get the opportunity.
“I think we were just ready to go out and do what we do,” she said.
Like it had a day earlier against Omaha Roncalli/Duchesne and Hastings, the Bears took a first-inning lead and never looked back. They scraped together four runs during the top half with McMillen, Ulven, Wrich and Scott turning at-bats into a four-run lead.
While Ulven and Scott delivered clean singles to plate their teammates, both McMillen and Wrich hit into what turned into Beatrice miscues.
“I just think we did a good job finding a way to score,” McMillen said. “It's not always going to be pretty. Sometimes we have to be scrappy.”
There was little scrappy about the slugger's two-run homer during the third inning, though. After Leah Chance walked, the Nebraska softball commit cleared the center field fence, causing the opposition's outfielder to awkwardly stumble into it.
Ahead 6-0, Janning and Chance added Blair RBIs in the fourth, too. Janning then helped preserve the lead when she turned a fly ball into shallow left field into a double play.
“I just wanted to run up on it,” she said, explaining her catch and throw. “And then I knew my first baseman, Claire (Mann), was going to have that.”
It was at least the Bears' second outfield highlight of the ballgame after Wrich stole what appeared to be a first-inning multi-base hit to the fence. The senior chased the ball down, lunged and came up with it.
In the end, though, Ulven claimed the pitching shutout with six strikeouts. From Policky's perspective behind the plate, BHS played “amazing” defense with “amazing” work from the circle.
“It really makes it a fun environment,” the catcher said.
The Bears enjoyed themselves well into the night Thursday as their game finished after 10 p.m. With one championship matchup still to go, Janning believed they'd already broken the scale when it came to fun.
“A hundred,” she said when asked to rate it from 1-to-10. “So much fun. Such an experience.”
Bears start 2-0
Blair started its state tournament run Oct. 11 with games against Roncalli/Duchesne and Hastings, teams it had outscored 39-7 during the regular season. It topped the fourth-seeded Tigers 9-1 and 17-2 in previous Eastern Midlands Conference matchups.
Still, Fangmeier said, “It's hard to beat a good team three times.”
The Bears did, though, 8-0 in five innings after a 15-2 win to start the day against Roncalli.
Against Hastings, BHS totaled 10 hits for its 32nd win of the season. Fangmeier's team had faced the Tigers' pitcher before.
“We were comfortable going up there,” she said. “We knew what she was going to throw, and they got the job done. It was great.”
The Bears led from the first-inning on, scoring three runs during the bottom half. Wrich hit a full-count pitch into left field for an RBI first before Bria Scott notched a two-RBI single of her own.
An inning later, Janning hit an RBI double to the left field fence for a 4-0 Blair advantage. Chance hit an RBI single next before McMillen's RBI double down the left field line with Nebraska coach Rhonda Ravelle watching from the crowd.
Ahead 6-0 in the fourth frame, Chance — a Wayne State recruit — unleashed the largest hit of the game. The Bear sent a Tigers pitch over the outfield fence, scoring her and courtesy runner Laynie Brown in the process.
Janning, the pitcher, then secured three outs with her defense in the top of the fifth inning for a run-rule victory. She finished with two hits allowed and three strikeouts.
“(Janning) pitched amazing in the circle — kept them off balance,” Fangmeier said. “And the defense came through.”
The bats, however, made the most noise in the Bears' state opener against Roncalli/Duchesne. Chance hit her first homer of the day against the No. 8 seed, but Wrich, McMillen, Scott and Janning had their own, too, as Blair won by 13 runs.
Wrich finished the game 2-for-3 with four RBIs, while Ulven tripled and plated three runs. The latter senior also earned the pitching win, striking out five batters in the process.
BHS SOFTBALL LINE SCORES
Thursday
No. 1 Blair 8, No. 5 Beatrice 0, 5 inn.
BHS (33-4) 4 0 2 2 0 — 8
BEA (20-9) 0 0 0 0 0 — 0
Oct. 11
No. 1 Blair 8, No. 4 Hastings 0, 5 inn.
HHS (23-10) 0 0 0 0 0 — 0
BHS (32-4) 3 3 0 2 X — 8
No. 1 Blair 15, No. 8 Omaha Roncalli/Duchesne 2, 3 inn.
ORD (14-15) 1 0 1 — 2
BHS (31-4) 4 3 8 — 15
