By Tony Chapman – For the Nebraska School Activities Association
Under cool morning temperatures and breezy conditions throughout the day the 2024 state softball tournament got underway on Wednesday at the Bill Smith Softball Complex in Hastings.
Six teams survived undefeated and will have to lose twice before Friday’s play is over to be eliminated from the tournament. The bracket winners will advance to Monday’s winner-take-all championship games to be played at Omaha’s Connie Claussen Field and will be televised by Nebraska Public Medial.
Wednesday’s big winners were Gretna and Millard North (Class A), Hastings and Beatrice (Class B) and Douglas County West and Bishop Neumann (Class C). All six teams need just one more win to advance to the championship game.
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Class A: Gretna, Millard North both on full throttle
Top-seeded and top-ranked Gretna scored 26 runs in a pair of Wednesday wins to set up for a berth in the championship game with one more win on Thursday. The Dragons moved to 34-0 on the season with a 13-4 win over Norfolk in the opener and a 13-0 win over Papillion-LaVista in their nightcap.
The story was almost identical for Millard North (30-6) as they scored 22 runs on the day. First, in a 12-9 win over Elkhorn South to open the tournament and then they broke open their 10-2 win over Lincoln Southwest with a 6-run sixth inning to remain unbeaten.
The bats were hot all day for the Dragons, who opted up to Class A while being eligible for Class B play this fall. Catcher Carlie Muhlbach was 4-for-4 with four RBI and two home runs in the opener against Norfolk.
In the nightcap, Gretna plated six runs in the first en route to a 3-inning, 13-0 win over the perennial power Monarchs. Muhlbach added another home run and the Dragons had eight on the day. Alexis Jensen faced just 11 batters and struck out eight.
“I am really proud of our kids,” Gretna coach Bill Heard said after day one. “They are about the right things. They gave a great effort all the way around today.”
The Mustangs got a huge day from sophomore Abby Beard. She was 5-for-9 at the plate with seven RBI and belted three home runs in the opener against Elkhorn South. Sophomore Jadyn Pokorny had a grand slam against Lincoln Southwest that helped seal the 6-inning, run-rule win.
“With the wind blowing in and across against Lincoln Southwest we just tried our best to hit the ball hard and get it in play,” Millard North coach Travis Unzicker said. “We left too many on base early in the game, but what a big grand slam we got from Jadyn.
“We have played (Lincoln Southwest) four times this year and each time it’s just been a heck of a battle.”
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Class B: Hastings, Beatrice in driver’s seat
With two-time defending champion Northwest and 2023 finalist Blair as the top-two seeds heading into the Class B tournament, it was seeds three and four that survived the day unbeaten.
Hastings (30-7) edged Scottsbluff in the morning session and then run-ruled Lincoln Pius X with a 14-4 afternoon win where they scored six runs in the bottom of the fifth to end the game. The ‘Bolts, who upset Northwest 9-5 in the opening round, now drop to play the winner of Gretna East and Seward at 11:30.
“Winning the first game is so important because (if you don’t) you have to start at 9:00 in the morning and compete all the way back,” Hastings coach Blake Marquardt said. “Now we are in a position where we just have one tomorrow and we made it to Friday. We have an extra game in case we need it.”
The Tigers rode freshman pitcher Ella Tinsman against the Thunderbolts as she struck out eight over five innings. She was 3-for-3 at the plate with an RBI, but the Tigers also got three RBI each from Haydn Laux and MaKenzie Nollette in the win.
Tinsman got the win in game one while coming in for four shutout innings. The Tigers survived a five-run third from Scottsbluff and won 6-5 on Laux’s RBI sacrifice in the bottom of the sixth.
Beatrice (28-5) came alive in the “bottom” bracket and threw the tournament in a tailspin with a 5-3 upset of second-seeded Blair in their second game of the day. The Lady O scored in every inning of a 17-9 opening win over Gretna East.
Against Blair, Beatrice fought back from down 2-0 for the win with the long ball. They got solo shots from Tana Antons and Layla Boyko as well as a two-run home run from Sadie Hereth to tie the game in the fourth inning.
“We have some kids that can swing the bat pretty well. Obviously in our first game, we had a hurricane blowing out,” Beatrice coach Gary Lytle said. “But, our girls have been pretty focused the last week in batting practice. You could see they were ready to go and did a great job today.”
The win sends Blair (30-8) to the “top” bracket where the top-3 ranked teams now reside. Should champion Northwest defeat Scottsbluff in the opening game, they would face Blair in an elimination game at 11:30. The winner of that game would then have to beat Hastings twice to advance to Monday’s final.
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Class C: DC West surprises, Neumann wins a wild one
Douglas County West shook off an 0-2 regular season record against first round opponent Fort Calhoun and erupted for six runs in the opening two innings of an 11-0 win. Then, they one-upped themselves in scoring a dominant 11-2 win over top-seed Hastings St. Cecilia to get within a win of their first state finals appearance in school history.
“I told these girls from the very beginning that I’d put money on them against anybody in the state,” DC West coach Ady Watts said. “I believe in them. We are a different team than the previous times we have played these teams.”
The Falcons had also lost to St. Cecilia 11-1 in a triangular at York in early September. They would have none of it on Wednesday. They scored in six of seven innings against HSC, belted out 15 hits and got nine RBI from the top three in their order: Bella Zach, Bailey Anderson and Sydney Atkins. Atkins pitched a complete game and struck out seven against the Hawkettes.
Top-ranked Bishop Neumann allowed five runs in the first inning to Guardian Angels CC but then pitcher Addison Sylliaasen settled in and the Cavs battled back to win a crazy one – 6-5 – when Bridget Whitney scored on a wild pitch that capped a four-run bottom of the seventh inning. Just earlier, they pulled even on Aubree Milliken’s two-run single.
Neumann had to battle back in their opener as well. They trailed NEN 4-2 after 2 ½ innings, but plated three in the third and four in the fourth to take control of a 9-5 win. Neumann and DC West will not play on Thursday until 4:30 against the loser’s bracket survivors.
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Tony Chapman is a freelance writer based in Grand Island. He has written for multiple Nebraska daily and weekly newspapers. His weekly Harvest Sports Newsletter covers a wide variety of Nebraska prep sports. Hastings Tribune sports editor Will Reynolds also contributed to this report.