Thursday was the last day of the Blair High School softball season.
The Bears played 40 games overall this fall, picking up their 30th and 31st victories in Hastings during the NSAA Class B State Softball Championships. Their ninth and final loss, however, came during the same tournament to the hometown Tigers at the Bill Smith Softball Complex.
As Hastings High School advanced onto the championship game in Omaha, BHS' head coach was asked to reflect on what had been. A few hours after the final pitch, Jennifer Fangmeier described her group of girls as “gritty, determined, selfless, supportive and united as one.”
She wrote the words on behalf of herself and her assistants.
“We are so thankful as a coaching staff to be able to go through this season the way we did with the athletes we have,” Fangmeier said. “Each and every day they worked and looked to better themselves. They are a special group, led by a special senior.”
Ace pitcher Brooke Janning guided the Bears to a 1-1 state start Oct. 16 with a run-rule victory against Seward, but also a 5-3 loss to Beatrice. The two-game split put Blair's season on the line going forward.
Coach Fangmeier believed her team had options as it moved onto Thursday's play in Hastings.
“We can choose,” she said. “We can decide to battle back. Fight, claw and scratch, and manufacture runs and win. Or we can say, 'It's somebody else's turn.'”
The coach correctly asserted that BHS wouldn't surrender.
“But we're not ready to give up our turn,” Fangmeier said. “They're going to do it.”
The Bears' comeback from the loss to the Orange started against Class B's top seed, which was upset by Lincoln Pius X during the opening round, but did beat Scottsbluff to set up a rematch of the 2023 title game. BHS had to beat 30-3 Grand Island Northwest to keep its season going.
“The girls were locked in,” Fangmeier said. “There were wind factors that could have made that game difficult, but our communication on defense, Brooke's 16 strikeouts — including her 300th (of the season) — and constant pressure on offense was key to that win.”
The Bears outscored the Vikings 6-3, eliminating them from contention. Janning's pitching performance was key, but she notched an RBI, too, while Taylor Munger had two.
Jacy Schueth and Regan Blattert plated a run apiece as well, while Taytum Macholan blasted a solo homer.
“It took every single player on the field and in the dugout to come together for our wins this postseason,” Fangmeier said. “Everyone did their part.”
The victory set up an all-Eastern Midlands Conference matchup with the hometown Tigers, who Blair split its two regular season games with. This time, Hastings built a 6-0 lead before Blattert and Munger produced at the plate during the bottom of the fourth inning. Blattert homered and Munger knocked in Schueth.
From there, though, the third-seeded Tigers built a lead BHS couldn't come back from. They tallied four runs during the top of the fifth and held on for the win even after Janning notched the final home run of her high school career. She gave up 10 hits and runs from the pitching circle against Hastings, but struck out 13 batters, too, ending an accomplished Bears career.
“Brooke is an amazing athlete, and as cliche as it sounds, she's an even better person,” Fangmeier said. “We've grown close to her over these past four years and saying we are proud of her doesn't come close to doing it any justice. There are people you meet on your journey and you just know they are destined to do something amazing — Brooke is one of those people.”
While Blair didn't reach its second-straight Class B championship game in 2024, it, for the third-consecutive season, finished as one of the last four teams left standing at the state tournament.
Bears open with run-rule win
BHS started NSAA Championships play Oct. 16 with a 10-0, run-rule victory against Seward.
The game, which resulted in the Bears' 30th win of the season, was just what the No. 2 seed was looking for.
“It felt like a huge sigh of relief,” sophomore Laynie Brown said. “Brooke did an amazing job in the circle and everyone did their job.”
The Bears scored during each of the four innings played, tallying their first run during the first inning when Kaitlynn O'Neil produced a two-out RBI single.
From there, Macholan, Mia McClain and Janning notched second-inning RBIs. O'Neil hit into a Bluejay error, too, pushing Blair's advantage to 5-0.
“Their pitching wasn't anything we haven't hit before,” Munger said. “We've seen pitchers just like her and we all just kind of hit the ball well.”
The infielder hit an infield single during the second frame and added a single down the first-base line to start the third. Macholan later plated Munger with a double before Brown hammered her second career homer — and second since districts — over the left field fence at the Bill Smith Complex.
“I was behind on a couple pitches and my bat was a little slower because it was cold, so I was just thinking, 'Attack and get out front,'” the sophomore said of her strategy in the box. “It just went.”
Munger and Hannah Heuton added fourth-inning RBIs to end the game by 10 runs.
“I just try to clear my head and not think about anything,” Munger said of her successful, 3-for-3 state outing. “Just think about hitting the ball hard every time.”
The process worked and resulted in BHS' 1-0 state start.
“It's a nice win, especially a run-rule (win),” Munger said. “It makes a statement to everybody else.”
Beatrice edges BHS
Beatrice earned a 5-3 victory against Blair during the second round, but the Bears gave themselves a chance.
Down two runs, Coach Fangmeier's team loaded the bases during the bottom of the seventh inning. Macholan singled first before Brown hit into a fielder's choice. The Orange walked Janning intentionally after a groundout before Schueth was hit by a pitch, loading the bases for O'Neil.
“Do whatever we can to get on,” Fangmeier said, recalling her message to the team going into its last at-bats. “We had put base runners on (base) every single inning. We were manufacturing runs, but we just left too many runners on base.”
In the seventh, that couldn't happen.
“Going into the last inning, we said we had to push them across the plate,” Fangmeier said.
O'Neil belted the ball into right field on a line drive, but it was caught by the Beatrice outfielder to end the game. BHS' three base runners didn't make it home as the Bears dropped into Thursday's elimination games.
It didn't look like it would happen at the start.
Blair took a 2-0 lead through three innings against Beatrice with Brown hammering a solo homer in the first and Schueth sacrificing in the third.
The Orange had an answer, though — their own home runs. They finished with three for the game and held off the Bears even after Schueth's second RBI in the fifth frame.
“That was a good swinging ballclub, for sure,” Fangmeier said of Beatrice, who was to face Hastings in the finals on Monday. “They were aggressive. They adjusted after their first time through the lineup and they did what they needed to do.”
Homers is what they needed to top Janning, who struck out eight in defeat. The senior finished with 45 Ks for the tournament as BHS' fall season came to a close after so much grit, determination, selflessness and support.
NSAA STATE SOFTBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS
Thursday
No. 4 Hastings 10, No. 2 Blair 5
HHS (31-7) 3 0 3 0 4 0 0 — 10 10 0
BHS (31-9) 0 0 0 3 2 0 0 — 5 6 5
No. 2 Blair 6, No. 1 Grand Island Northwest 3
BHS (31-8) 2 1 1 0 0 0 2 — 6 13 0
GINW (30-4) 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 — 3 4 0
Wednesday
No. 3 Beatrice 5, No. 2 Blair 3
BEA (28-5) 0 0 0 2 1 1 1 — 5 6 0
BHS (30-8) 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 — 3 7 1
No. 2 Blair 10, No. 7 Seward 0, 4 inn.
SHS (22-11) 0 0 0 0 — 0 1 2
BHS (30-7) 1 4 3 2 — 10 12 0
