State softball · Roundup · Class C
Class C Saturday: Kearney Catholic, Bishop Neumann reach final
Class C state softball Saturday roundup: Kearney Catholic and Bishop Neumann stay unbeaten and meet Monday.
HASTINGS, Neb. — Both unbeaten Class C teams won on Saturday at the Bill Smith Softball Complex, so neither if-necessary game was needed. Top-seeded Kearney Catholic and No. 3 Bishop Neumann meet for the state title in Game 15 at noon Monday at Bowlin Stadium in Lincoln.
Game 11: Kearney Catholic beat No. 8 Yutan/Mead 6-0. P. Tidwell threw a three-hit shutout with 13 strikeouts and one walk, on 112 pitches. The Stars scored once in each of the second, third and fourth innings and added three unearned runs in the sixth. A. Cast went 3-for-3 with a double and three RBIs, A. Green homered and scored twice, and K. Ruyle had two hits. Kearney Catholic stole six bases.
Game 13: Bishop Neumann beat No. 4 Hastings St. Cecilia 10-2 in five innings. St. Cecilia led 2-0 on M. Bauer's two-run homer in the first, but Neumann scored 10 straight runs over the next four innings. A. Furasek had two doubles and four RBIs, A. Hraban went 3-for-3 with two RBIs, and I. Stuhr pitched a four-hitter. Neumann made no errors.
Eliminated Saturday: Yutan/Mead, the No. 8 seed, entered the tournament 22-7. It lost its opener 10-0 to Kearney Catholic, then won two elimination games, 2-1 over DC West and 16-10 over Ashland-Greenwood, before losing to the Stars again. Hastings St. Cecilia, the defending Class C champion, entered 18-7 and went 2-2 at state.
The finalists: Kearney Catholic entered the tournament 22-3 and is 3-0 at state, outscoring its opponents 28-4. It has beaten Yutan/Mead twice (10-0 in five innings and 6-0) and St. Cecilia 12-4 in six innings. Bishop Neumann entered 20-4 and is 3-0, outscoring its opponents 27-8. It beat Fort Calhoun 12-4 in five innings, Ashland-Greenwood 5-2 and St. Cecilia 10-2 in five.
Both finalists beat St. Cecilia by eight runs. Each team's ace has pitched every inning of its last two games: Tidwell for Kearney Catholic and Stuhr for Neumann.
History: NSAA's finals history lists Class C titles for Bishop Neumann in 2017, 2021 and 2024, along with runner-up finishes in 2015, 2018 and 2023. It shows one earlier final for Kearney Catholic, a 12-0 loss to Guardian Angels Central Catholic in 2020.
Sources: NSAA official box scores, Class C, Saturday, Oct. 17, 2026 (via NSAA Softball Championships HQ); NSAA Class C bracket sheet (bracket sheets retrieved Oct. 17, 2026, 9:37 p.m. CT); NSAA softball state finals history. Innings are noted only where NSAA's results data marks them.
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