Fort Calhoun's Class C state softball tournament debut game didn't go as the Pioneers had hoped.
Douglas County West, a fellow Nebraska Capitol Conference (NCC) foe FCHS beat twice during the regular season, beat it 11-0 on Oct. 16 at the Bill Smith Softball Complex in Hastings.
It took just five innings.
Afterward, coach Mandy Taylor noted how the Pioneers needed to move on after the disappointing start to their first NSAA Championships appearance in school history.
“We're going to,” she said. “We're going to have to.”
Boy, did they.
FCHS responded to just the sixth loss of its season with a 10-0 Thursday morning rout of David City Aquinas and a 6-3, elimination-game victory against the third-seeded West Point GACC Bluejays.
Next, though, were those Falcons again in the Pioneers' third game of the day.
“DC West is firing on all cylinders,” Coach Taylor said.
A 12-3 loss ended a historic run for her Pioneers, who set the all-time school record for wins in a season. At 27-7, Taylor said her team felt the love from its community.
“I'm just very proud of the girls,” she said.
Her daughters — seniors Kaylee and Anna Taylor — played their final games on the state stage after all.
FCHS wins 2 Thursday
Responding to the state debut loss to DC West, Fort Calhoun earned what will stand the test of time as its first two state tournament victories ever.
First, Thursday, the Pioneers outhit the Aquinas Monarchs 13-1 during a four-inning onslaught. Izzy Nolan, Allison Prunty and Addie Benoit all hit homers as Coach Taylor's squad scored in every inning. Prunty and Benoit's fence-clearing shots ended the game by run rule in the fourth.
Dehlia Hallberg finished with a team-best three RBIs, too, while Kaylee Taylor, Tacey Belina, Lucie Larsen, Madi Larrick and she all added hits to compliment the aforementioned home runs.
On the pitching mound, Anna Taylor struck out two Monarchs during the one-hitter.
Next, against GACC, FCHS' Izzy Greenough — who finished 2-for-3 at the plate — and Izzy Nolan hit RBI doubles for a 2-0 lead. Larrick sacrificed for her team's third run of the second inning before both Addie Benoit and Greenough notched third-frame RBI doubles for three more scores.
The Bluejays pulled within 6-3 during a third-run sixth frame and loaded the bases in the seventh. Belina struck out the last two batters the Pioneers faced, though, clinching, arguably, Calhoun's biggest win of the season.
The overall pitching victory belonged to Anna Taylor, who threw six innings overall, tallying five strikeouts.
“Anna pitched her buns off,” Coach Taylor said.
Belina and the coach's daughter pitched against DC West, too, but the Falcons kept rolling. In what became the last game of FCHS' season, DC West scored six runs across the first two innings and pulled ahead 10-1 with four more during the top of the fourth.
Benoit, Greenough and Anna Taylor scored runs — and Larrick knocked one in — but it wasn't enough. Isabel Wray made her state debut in the pitching circle, too, but not even her 2 2/3 innings of three-hit work was enough to keep the Falcons from advancing onto the Class C title game.
Coach Taylor said she managed to not get too emotional after her senior daughters' last FCHS softball outing ended. She did admit trying to avoid too much eye contact with a few of her Pioneers in hopes it would help her stay composed in the moment, though.
FCHS slip against DC West
A day earlier, Coach Taylor didn't sense her Calhoun team was tight going into its state debut Oct. 16, but she definitely saw it once the game began.
“Most definitely you could tell that there were things happening,” she said.
While the Pioneers came back from a 7-0 deficit against DC West to win the NCC championships game, they couldn't in Hastings. They finished with more errors — seven — than hits — four — and lost by 11 runs.
Sydney Atkins led the Falcons in the pitching circle, finishing with 13 strikeouts as FCHS tried to hit into a stiff south wind at the Bill Smith Complex.
“It's hard to shut these guys down,” Taylor said, complimenting the opposing pitcher. “She did.”
Larrick tallied two of the Pioneers' four hits, sending a double into the outfield during the final inning. Belina, the losing pitcher, had one single during the first inning, too, while Greenough recorded her's during the second frame.
That was it, though. Coach Taylor said the Falcons' familiarity with her team may have led to Calhoun's offensive struggles.
“Obviously, we've played them twice, so they know what our hitters can do,” she said more than 24 hours before the teams' fourth meeting.
The loss cut the Pioneers' first day at the state tournament short. Had they won, they'd have played again Oct. 16.
Instead, Calhoun had to figure out how to spend its time before Thursday's Class C elimination game with Aquinas.
“That's a great question,” Coach Taylor said when asked how the Pioneers would get by. “I don't know exactly.”
She noted school work, but the rest was still up in the air.
“Probably have some time together as a team and just kind of reset,” the coach said. “Maybe get in the (batting) cages somewhere.”
Whatever FCHS did, it worked. With the orange and black community behind the Pioneers, they earned the first two state victories in their softball program's history.
That and there was no ill will toward the team that ended their season, a fellow NCC squad from nearby Valley.
“We're cheering for DC West,” Taylor said.
The Falcons were to play Wahoo Neumann for the Class C state championship Monday in Omaha.
NSAA STATE SOFTBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS
Thursday
No. 5 Douglas County West 12, No. 4 Fort Calhoun 3, 6 inn.
DCW (27-8) 3 3 0 4 0 2 — 12 12 4
FCHS (27-7) 0 1 0 2 0 0 — 3 8 3
No. 4 Fort Calhoun 6, No. 3 West Point GACC 3
FCHS (27-6) 0 3 3 0 0 0 0 — 6 7 6
GACC (31-6) 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 — 3 8 3
No. 4 Fort Calhoun 10, No. 8 David City Aquinas 0, 4 inn.
DCA (20-15) 0 0 0 0 — 0 1 3
FCHS (26-6) 2 3 3 2 — 10 13 0
Wednesday
No. 5 DC West 10, No. 4 Fort Calhoun 0, 5 inn.
DCW (25-8) 2 4 0 1 4 — 11 12 0
FCHS (25-6) 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 4 7
