Softball · Preview
Class B softball: Gretna East, Gretna, Hastings, Northwest unbeaten
Class B state softball preview: Day 1 results, Thursday pairings and the road to Monday's final at Bowlin Stadium.
HASTINGS, Neb. — Northwest's Class B title defense survived its first test by a single run. The No. 4 seed edged No. 5 Crete 8-7 on Wednesday, the official score on the NSAA sheet, and now joins Gretna East, Gretna and Hastings as the four unbeaten teams left in the bracket (NSAA Class B bracket sheet, retrieved Oct. 15, 2026). 1011 NOW reported the score as 9-7 (1011 NOW, Oct. 14, 2026).
The rest of the opening round turned on offense. Top seed Gretna East beat No. 8 Beatrice 18-9 in six innings, No. 3 Gretna beat No. 6 Skutt Catholic 11-6, and No. 2 Hastings beat No. 7 Wahoo 9-1 in six innings.
Thursday's winners bracket puts the defending champion against the top seed: Gretna East meets Northwest in Game 5. In Game 6, Gretna and Hastings play to stay unbeaten. In the elimination games, Beatrice plays Crete and Skutt Catholic meets Wahoo. Class B games follow the rolling schedule.
NSAA delayed Thursday's start after consulting the National Weather Service, and its bracket sheet now lists the first games at 2:00 p.m. (NSAA bracket sheet, retrieved Oct. 15, 2026, 12:10 p.m. CT). From there, games roll: each starts about 30 minutes after the previous one ends, with an abbreviated pregame of a 10-minute field warmup and a plate meeting. NSAA said any further changes will be posted on its social media and nsaahome.org (NSAA weather update, Oct. 14, 2026).
Northwest won the 2025 Class B title, beating Beatrice 4-3 on a walk-off in the final at Bowlin Stadium in Lincoln on Oct. 20, 2025 (NSAA softball finals history; NSAA 2025 finals recap, both retrieved Oct. 12, 2026). This year's tournament has been harder on last year's runner-up. Beatrice lost 18-9 to Gretna East and now faces Crete with its season on the line.
The tournament is double elimination, and the champion will be decided in Game 15 on Monday, Oct. 19, at Bowlin Stadium in Lincoln (NSAA Softball Championships HQ, retrieved Oct. 14, 2026). NSAA HQ also lists brackets, GoFan tickets and NFHS Network webcasts.
Sources: NSAA Class B bracket sheet, retrieved Oct. 15, 2026; NSAA weather update, Oct. 14, 2026; NSAA softball finals history and NSAA 2025 finals recap, both retrieved Oct. 12, 2026; NSAA Softball Championships HQ, retrieved Oct. 14, 2026. Innings are noted only where NSAA's results data marks them.
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