Some victories mean more.
Blair senior softball player Tessa Villotta was unable to share more than a few words about what Friday's meant before tears formed at the corners of her eyes and it became difficult for her to speak.
“Four years and it finally happened,” she said, fighting through the joy of the moment to answer. “It's a good feeling.”
The No. 3 Bears beat Crete twice at the Youth Sports Complex, winning their best-of-three Class B-2 District Final series and earning a return trip to the NSAA State Softball Championships in Hastings. The qualification is BHS' first since 2018 and 14th overall.
Coach Jennifer Fangmeier's team will start state tournament play against Waverly at 9 a.m. Wednesday on a Bill Smith Softball Complex field. It is 29-4 this fall, having set a new school record for wins in a season against the Cardinals.
“We knew it was going to be a tough one,” Blair senior Cailey Anderson said of her final season. “But, we knew if we stuck together and fought through it all, we could make it. We could make it far.”
The Bears first beat Crete 10-0 in four innings Friday before claiming the state clincher, 5-2.
“All sorts of emotions right now,” senior Ally Lynch said. “We've been close a couple of years, but actually getting to go down to Hastings is surreal. We worked so hard this year.”
It took even more than 12 months worth of work, though.
“I've always wanted this since I was a freshman and it finally came true,” fellow 12th-grader Taylor Larson said. “I'm so happy.”
Junior Kalli Ulven threw all 11 innings against the Cardinals, winning the first game by four-inning no-hitter. The right-hander said the Bears were focused on the task at hand.
“We all, mentally, knew where we were and where we wanted to end today,” she said. “We all practiced throughout the week and knew it was going to happen.”
BHS scored its first three runs of the day during the very first inning. After Leah Chance's lead-off double, Nessa McMillen, Ulven and Villotta delivered with RBI swings.
McMillen and Sophia Wrich later knocked in runs during the third inning, too, before junior Claire Mann hammered a three-run homer over the outfield fence.
“I just got up into the box and I really wanted to play for my teammates,” she said, revealing her motivations.
Ahead 9-0, Ulven ended the game by run-rule in the fourth frame when she plated the Bears' 10th score.
Needing just one more win to earn their place at state, the Bears scored three more times during the first two innings of Game No. 2. Brooke Janning pushed two base runners across home plate before McMillen's single gave her squad a 3-0 lead.
Crete, however, finally notched its first hit against Ulven during the fourth frame, later scoring twice on a bases-loaded single. The score stood at 3-2, though, until the top of the seventh inning.
With Mann on base, BHS catcher Joslyn Policky provided one more offensive highlight for the home team. Her two-run homer cleared the left field fence and gave her squad some breathing room on the scoreboard.
“There was nothing to lose,” Policky said. “Yeah, just swung. Gave it my all. Left it all on the field.”
Five outs later, the Bears celebrated. Ulven struck out the final batter she faced.
“I knew as soon she swung that she wasn't going to touch it,” the pitcher said.
Coach Fangmeier — who's up to 109 career wins — said her team's focus on “Blair ball” has led it to success. Her ballclub is doing what it can control and winning games — 14 in a row going into the state tourney.
“Not focusing on the big, big giant things — just the little things,” the coach said, detailing the Bears' approach. “That's really what's been guiding us through this postseason so far.”
As a result, Blair is headed where its wanted to go all along. It's state bound.
“We knew we needed to be in Hastings at the end of the season,” Fangmeier said.
Some victories, like Friday's, just mean more.
“I feel really happy,” senior Josie Ulrich said at the center of the postgame celebration. “We're going.”
