Before the district tournament, Blair High School softball coach Jennifer Fangmeier sat down with her thoughts and wrote.
The feelings she put into words were for her five seniors whenever their record-breaking fall season was to end. They were honest. They were sentimental.
“That's so I can get through it because it's emotional for me,” Fangmeier said Friday in Hastings at the NSAA State Championships. “I want to make sure I can get through that speech.”
After a 13-2 loss to Elkhorn in the Class B elimination semifinals, the coach pulled out her phone and joined a huddle with her girls one last time. She read from the screen, looking up more often than not to deliver the messages to her 12th-grade Bears eye-to-eye.
“The goodbye is really hard,” Fangmeier said. “We get really attached to all of our kids, the seniors especially.”
Tessa Villotta, Cailey Anderson, Taylor Larson, Josie Ulrich and Ally Lynch wore BHS uniforms together for the final time Friday. They and their teammates went 2-2 across the three-day state tournament at the Bill Smith Softball Complex, capping their breakout season third in Class B.
Before the Bears' run, Blair hadn't qualified for state since 2018 and hadn't earned a tourney victory since 2014.
“Treat them like our daughters for an entire season and spend summer with them,” Fangmeier said, describing her coaching staff's relationship with its players. “We're really, really close to them.”
Losing was tough and saying goodbye difficult, but sharing and crying together wasn't.
“They know how I feel, and they know that we care about them and that we're proud of them,” Fangmeier said.
When the huddle broke, Bears crossed paths back-and-forth for hugs from each of their teammates. As Anderson, the right fielder, wiped away a tear, she spotted her dad — tall and broad-shouldered — watching the moment from the side. The senior cracked a smile and let out a laugh, asking him to remove his sunglasses so she can see the emotion clear on his face in his eyes.
The Bears went 31-6 during the Class of 2023's final season. It was the winningest campaign in school history.
It was a ride BHS concluded with a 2-2, third-place showing at the NSAA State Championships.
Bears start 2-0 against EMC foes
Blair's tournament run began with a 2-0 Wednesday start against familiar opponents from the Eastern Midlands Conference (EMC) — eighth-seeded Waverly and No. 4 Bennington. Kalli Ulven excelled in the pitching circle, notching the 6-4 and 9-1 wins.
Day No. 1 went according to the top-seeded Bears' plans.
“We are all very excited to be here,” Ulven said. “And we want all of it.”
The junior ace struck out 18 batters in 13 innings.
“I'm very proud of myself for pitching all of that,” she said.
Against Waverly, Ulven left the circle in the sixth inning, but returned with one-out in the seventh to halt a Vikings rally. A sac fly and a groundout later, the Bears left the infield with their school's first state victory in eight years.
“The first game is definitely the hardest just because there's all of the nerves of being at state,” junior infielder Leah Chance said. “But, we handled it well. Came out on top, and a win is a win.”
Ulven notched seven strikeouts across six innings. The right-hander also scored BHS' first run during the second inning. She produced the 1-0 lead after a pick-off throw toward her at third base wound up in the dirt.
Coach Fangmeier's squad then pushed its lead to 6-0 with five runs during the fourth frame. Nessa McMillen hit a lead-off infield single before Ulven singled, too.
Two outs later, Claire Mann hit another single to score McMillen from second base. Joslyn Policky then hit into a Waverly error, which allowed both Ulven and Mann to score.
Later, with the bases loaded and still two outs, Chance hit an RBI single to score pinch-runner Audie Keeling. Anderson scored, too, when the Vikings bobbled the relay throw back into the infield.
The win was Blair's 30th. It's the first time a BHS team has ever notched 30 victories in a single season.
It's 31st win, however, came during a desired matchup with Bennington. Chance said her team was pulling for a game with the rival Badgers in Hastings.
Ulven again shined, striking out 11 batters in a complete-game effort. She had run support, too, as the Bears produced nine runs on 16 hits.
Both Brooke Janning and Chance had three RBIs against their second EMC foe of the day, while McMillen, Policky and Ulven tallied one apiece. Chance led her team with four hits, while Villotta and Anderson had three each.
Bennington homered during the bottom half of the seventh inning, but it couldn't match the four runs BHS scored in the top half.
“We feel really good,” Chance said. “And, going into tomorrow, that's exactly what we needed.”
Bears fall to Northwest
Blair's quest toward the Class B state championship hit its first bump Thursday against Grand Island Northwest, though.
The Bears led the semifinals matchup 5-0 through three innings, but lost 6-5 when the Vikings scored the game-winning run on an error during the top of the seventh inning. Overall, coach Fangmeier's team had five errors to its opposition's two.
“We made some defensive mistakes I don't think we typically make and they strung together some hits,” she said.
Ulven and Chance hit homers in defeat, while McMillen was 3-for-4 with an RBI. Ulven had seven strikeouts in the pitching circle and took the loss despite allowing just one earned run.
BHS loaded the bases during the bottom of the seventh inning, but was unable to score the equalizer.
“We had some amazing diving plays. We had home runs,” Fangmeier said. “It just wasn't enough to pull out the win.”
Antlers end Bears' season
Atypical Blair miscues seemingly carried into Friday's game with Elkhorn — the Bears' unexpected finale. Ulven struck out two Antlers across the first two innings, but the regular EMC foe — who Blair beat 6-2 earlier in the season — still managed a two-run lead.
Policky changed that.
After a two-out single by Mann, the catcher hit her fifth homer of the season over the left field fence. She'd hammered an Elkhorn pitch foul earlier during the at-bat, but straightened the next hit out as her teammates in the dugout had suggested she do by chant.
“She made that solid connection, hit that inside pitch, and energy shifted back to our dugout,” Fangmeier said. “We felt really good, and then they just were seeing the ball real well and finding holes. Finding some gaps.”
Ulven, who finished the fall with a 22-4 pitching record, left the circle with her team down 2-0 at the end of the top of the second inning, but didn't return with the score tied at the beginning of the third frame.
“I think it was a long couple of days and I think it was time to make that change,” Fangmeier said.
Instead, Janning, a sophomore lefty, stepped in for the Bears and took the eventual loss as the Antlers scored the next 11 runs. It was her first pitching defeat of the fall as she finished 5-1.
Villotta, Janning and Mann produced hits as Elkhorn went on its scoring streak, but Blair didn't tally another run.
Chance finished her four games at state as the Bears' leader in hits (six) and RBIs (six). McMillen added five hits, while Janning, Ulven and Villotta notched four apiece.
Ulven threw 22 state innings, allowing just 16 hits and four earned runs with 27 strikeouts.
Among Blair's defensive highlights was Greta Galbraith's diving catch in left field against Elkhorn.
All of the aforementioned efforts resulted in a 2-2 state run at the conclusion of a 37-game Blair softball season.
