Beatrice, Norris, Freeman qualify for 2025 NSAA Softball State Championships: preview, broadcast schedule

Southeast Nebraska will be represented at the 2025 NSAA Softball State Championships, which begin this week in Hastings: reigning champions Beatrice are back to defend their 2024 state title in Class B, with fellow district champion Norris also in the mix, while Freeman earned a spot in the Class C field by springing an upset win in their district final.

Ol' Red 99.5 and KWBE will be there to provide live coverage of any and every game all three of those schools play starting this Wednesday at the Bill Smith Softball Complex in Hastings. Every school is guaranteed to play at least two games this week in the double-elimination tournament, and, of course, all are hoping to play a lot more than that: the state championship games are slated for next Monday, October 20, at Bowlin Stadium on the campus of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. 

Beatrice won last year's Class B softball state championship in thrilling fashion, and after another excellent season the Lady Orange are back to defend their title as the #2-seed in this year's tournament. Beatrice was the top seed in the district they hosted last week. They defeated #4-seed Seward 4-2 in the semifinal before outlasting #2-seed Elkhorn 8-7 in game one of the best-of-three championship series on Friday - game two was much more like it for Beatrice, an 8-1 win to lock up a return trip to state.

The Lady Orange are the #2-seed in the field, entering the tournament with a sparkling record of 29-4, more wins than anyone else in Class B (top-seeded GI Northwest has the best winning percentage at 26-2). Beatrice will first face #7-seed Hastings in a matchup of two preseason class favorites on Wednesday at 11:30 AM on Field 2. 

Competing at the same time in the Class B field of eight will be the Norris Titans, which extend a long streak of all-sport success for that school by qualifying for this week's tournament. After run-ruling #4-seed Aurora 12-2 in the semifinal of the district tournament last week, top-seeded Norris escaped a district final against second-seeded Crete that was as tense as expected: the Cardinals won game one 5-2, but the Titans rebounded to win the next two 6-3 and 4-2 to earn the automatic berth to the state tournament. Crete had a shot at Class B's lone wild card berth, but just lost out to Hastings on wild card points.

The Titans are the #4-seed in this year's Class B field, entering the tournament with a record of 22-10. They will face off with #5-seed Blair, which has a better overall record but slightly lower strength of schedule. And the Titans will certainly be looking for revenge in their game at 11:30 on Field 4 on Wednesday after losing to Blair on three separate occasions in the regular season. 

Freeman got a second life to get to the district final and made an impressive run there to spring into the state tournament field as the #8-seed in Class C. The Falcons were the #2-seed in the Pender subdistrict and pounded Gothenburg 9-1 before losing to top-seeded NEN by the same scoreline in the final. Freeman's overall body of work was good enough to earn them one of the 16 spots in the district finals, and the Falcons soared past #3-seed Fort Calhoun there, winning both games of the best-of-three series (4-2 and 9-6) to claim the title and steal the state tournament berth. 

The Falcons were the only lower-seeded team to win in their district final, so by default they enter this week's state tournament as the #8-seed. Interestingly, NEN, the team that defeated Freeman in subdistricts, is the #7-seed. Freeman will take on the top team in Class C, Hastings St. Cecilia, at 2 PM on Wednesday on Field 1.

Our full broadcast schedule for the 2025 Nebraska State Softball Championships is below, sorted by team. All Norris games will air on Ol' Red. All Beatrice and Freeman games will air on KWBE. The schedule will be updated at the end of each day.

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Class B #2 Beatrice:

Wed, 10/15 - 11:30 AM - vs. #7 Hastings - KWBE

IF WIN: Next game Wednesday at 4:30

IF LOSE: Next game Thursday at 9 AM

Class B #4 Norris:

Wed, 10/15 - 11:30 AM - vs. #5 Blair - Ol' Red

IF WIN: Next game Wednesday at 4:30

IF LOSE: Next game Thursday at 9 AM

Class C #8 Freeman:

Wed, 10/15 - 2 PM - vs. #1 St. Cecilia - KWBE

IF WIN: Next game Wednesday at 7 PM

IF LOSE: Next game Thursday at 11:30