The Class B No. 2 Blair High School softball team played teams from Missouri, Colorado, Oklahoma and Nebraska during the NFCA Kaiti Williams Memorial Leadoff Classic.
Coach Jennifer Fangmeier's Bears went 3-2 against those foes Friday and Saturday, finishing second in the Silver Championship bracket at Papillion Landing. They are 12-4 overall.
Blair started 1-1 in pool play before going 2-1 Saturday against Piedmont (Okla.), Legend (Colo.) and Rock Bridge (Mo.). The Bears started bracket play against Piedmont, winning 5-1.
Jacy Schueth plated BHS' first run of the day during the first inning before Hannah Heuton knocked in Taylor Munger for the go-ahead, 2-1 run in the second. Taytum Macholan, meanwhile, produced three third-inning RBIs with a double.
The Bears then scored four runs across the last two innings against Legend, winning 7-6 in the Silver bracket semifinals. Laynie Brown hit an RBI triple to tie the game during the seventh inning before scoring the game-winner on a passed ball as Mia McClain stood in the batter's box.
Blair scored three runs during the first inning against the Colorado team, too, with both Brooke Janning and Emmi Hall notching an RBI apiece. Abby Leggott and Regan Blattert plated late-game runs, too, tying it at 5-5.
In the Silver finals, though, late RBI doubles by Heuton and Janning weren't enough as the Bears fell to Rock Bridge, 8-5. Coach Fangmeier's team led 2-0 early after run-producing at-bats by Janning and Brown, but the Missouri squad scored runs during the third, fourth, fifth and sixth innings to win in Papillion.
Bears start tourney 1-1
The Bears opened the Kaiti Williams Memorial Leadoff Classic with a win and a loss on Friday. They won the first game 4-3 on a walk-off double by Hall before a 7-0 loss to Gretna East.
Before Hall's heroics, Coach Fangmeier's team trailed its first-round opponent, Blue Springs South (Mo.), 3-0 through 4.5 innings. Blair finally scratched across its first run of the ballgame in the bottom of the fifth inning when Munger plated London Larsen, who led off the inning with a triple.
Then, during the sixth inning, Macholan set up Hall to win the game. Her two-run homer tied up the matchup against a tradition-rich, multiple-time state championship program from Missouri before Hall broke the tie.
The Bears then went right into their second tournament matchup and struggled. Gretna East built a 3-0 lead through three innings and then scored four more times during the sixth.
BHS, meanwhile, was held scoreless for just the second time this season.
BHS routs Cougars
Blair totaled 14 hits in four innings Thursday, though, besting Omaha Gross in a regular season game on the road, 13-0.
The Bears manufactured three first-inning runs and three more in the second before putting the game away with seven in the fourth. The pitcher, Leggott benefitted, earning the win in the circle after striking out six Cougars.
Janning, Blattert and Larsen produced BHS' first three RBIs during the opening inning. Janning and two more teammates — Brown and McLain — then combined for three more RBIs in the second, pushing the Bears well out front and into the eventual winning effort on the diamond.
BHS SOFTBALL LINE SCORES
Saturday
Rock Bridge (Mo.) 8, No. 2 Blair 5
RB 0 0 1 3 1 3 — 8
BHS (12-4) 1 1 0 0 1 2 — 5
No. 2 Blair 7, Legend (Colo.) 6
LEGEND 0 0 0 5 0 0 1 — 6
BHS (12-3) 3 0 0 0 0 2 2 — 7
No. 2 Blair 5, Piedmont (Okla.) 1
BHS (11-3) 1 1 3 0 0 0 0 — 5
PIEDMONT 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 1
Friday
Gretna East 7, No. 2 Blair 0, 6 inn.
GE 0 1 2 0 0 4 — 7
BHS (10-3) 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0
No. 2 Blair 4, Blue Springs South (Mo.) 3, 6 inn.
BSS 0 0 0 0 3 0 — 3
BHS (10-2) 0 0 0 0 1 3 — 4
Thursday
No. 2 Blair 13, Omaha Gross 0, 4 inn.
BHS (9-2) 3 3 0 7 — 13
OG (3-5) 0 0 0 0 — 0
