The stands are filled with fans. Overhead the sun is shining and the air is cool. The players on the field stand ready to receive the ball and jump into action. The rest of the team cheers loudly from the dugout. A batter from Grand Island steps into the batter’s box as senior Alisha McMurtry stands in the pitching circle holding the softball. She pitches the ball in the blink of an eye. The batter swings, misses, and the catcher closes her mitt around the ball. Strike one. The team is a step closer to winning the game, to winning the district tournament, but the road to victory is never easy.

The varsity Bellevue East Softball team has made it back to state competition for the second season in a row after winning the district tournament they hosted on October 8-9 at their home field.  

“I think it [going to state] just made us closer as a team,” McMurtry said. “Just being able to share that bond with those girls and just knowing that these are my last games with these girls and I’m going to go out and do everything I can to make us win.” 

Last year, during the 2024-2025 season, the softball team made it to the state championships. They just missed playing in the final bracket after losing 3-4 to Papillion-LaVista high school. This past season they have made it their goal to come back better than before. 

“We have five senior players and one senior manager right now that have really come together and they know what it means to win and they were all at the state tournament last year,” head coach Onken said. “So they know that’s where they want to be and that’s where they want to end their career and their season.”

Bellevue East hosted the District A-6 tournament at the Lied Center softball fields. The team won their first district game 9-1 against Grand Island on October 8 at 12:00 pm; they then went on to play Kearney high school at 6:00pm the same day and won 3-0. According to Onken, hosting this seed helped them to win their district. 

“The fact that we host [districts] is huge because we know the feel, we know the atmosphere, and I think that helped a lot last year and then if any student body comes down to cheer us on,” Onken said.

This season the team has been dedicated to making it back to state competition. Their season started this past summer in June where players attended summer conditioning which included weight lifting, batting, speed school, and game-like drills. 

“So they are here everyday all summer Monday through Thursday at 6:00 in the morning. They hit for an hour and they do what we call speed school where we work on just footwork, agility training, getting faster, and then we go into the weight room for an hour,” Onken said. “So we are usually here from 6:00 in the morning to 9:00 in the morning for the majority of the summer.”

The team has practiced every day after school and on Saturdays throughout the regular season. Their dedication to the game stems from not only wanting to make it back to the state championship and win games, but also to become better players. Early in the season, after losing to high level teams, they realized they would have to push to get back to state.

“I love that they come to practice and they are ready to practice and they get to workouts even in the beginning of June and they have their eyes on the prize.” Onken said. “They are there with a purpose; they come to hitting, they are there with a purpose.” 

The softball team has a strong sense of connectedness. Their motto is “all in” which means everyone is included and everyone plays their best for each other. In addition to many team dinners and lunches, the team also comes together before every game to pray. 

“So before every game, we pray, we grab each other’s pinkies and we just pray and it’s really nice,” Rowley said. “We really just pray for everybody’s health, make sure everybody stays healthy, doesn’t get injured, really just to have a good games and let everybody be guided into the right path.”

In their first game at state competition in Hastings, Bellevue East took on Lincoln Southwest. During the game, there were several weather delays which postponed play. Bellevue East lost 1-2. In their next match up they went against Millard West and lost again 3-4. 

“Despite our wins and losses, or how we lost both games, we honestly played our best ball that we’ve ever played and it’s just little things that didn’t go our way. And that’s okay,” McMurtry said. “If I had to go back, I wouldn’t change anything because we played so well and I’m just so proud of the way we competed through every pitch and then in both games.”

Bellevue East ended their time at state with close games and their heads held high. This was the last game of the season and last high school game for five seniors on the team. The seniors have helped to lay the groundwork for the team’s culture. “This season I’m most proud of every girl that has made it to their goals, because we all set goals at the beginning of the year of what we want,” Rowley said.