Jules Severson made certain that she and her Millard North softball teammates received different colored medals than they had the past three seasons.
The sophomore right-hander tossed a two-hitter and reached base three times, including a solo home run, as the top-seeded Mustangs beat Elkhorn South 3-1 in Monday’s Class A state championship game.
“Jules pitched a great game,” Millard North coach Travis Unzicker said. “I knew she could do it, and she pitched unbelievable and stuck with our game plan all the way through. It was awesome, and a home run to boot.”
The Mustangs (34-4), who had lost in the championship game in each of the previous three seasons, won their first state softball title since 1993, the first year the tournament was held.
“When my daughters played and we won five out of six championships (at Millard South from 2011-16), and I just thought, ‘You know, this is how it is,’” Unzicker said. “And then when we lost three, we got so close and we just couldn’t finish the deal, and we had plenty of chances.
“So this one’s really sweet to be able to finish the deal and let them not be denied another year.”
Millard North sophomore Jules Severson winds up to pitch against Elkhorn South in the Class A state softball championship. Photo by Jackson D. Luethje.
Severson allowed an unearned run in the first and then retired 19 of the final 20 Storm hitters, including a stretch of 17 in a row from the final out of the first to the first out of the seventh inning.
“We threw a lot of changeups tonight because I pitched (against) them already three times in the season,” Severson said. “We knew what their strengths and their weaknesses were, but my changeup was just really on.”
Severson struck out five and did not issue a walk, facing 24 hitters in all, three over the minimum.
Millard North backed up Severson with some sparkling defensive plays. Center fielder Sarah Frazier robbed Isabelle Jackson of a home run in the fourth inning. Frazier timed her jump and caught the ball right before it went over. Right fielder Lynley Paulson crashed into the wall down the right field line making a catch in foul territory in Jackson’s at-bat in the seventh.
When shortstop Mallory Closman caught Paityn Spencer’s line drive to end the game, Unzicker stayed back in the dugout for a moment while the rest of the Mustangs celebrated.
“I wanted the girls to celebrate and I wanted them to have their own time because we put in a lot of time and I was hard on these girls,” he said. “I demanded the excellence out of them, and I know at times they probably didn’t understand it, but after (Monday), I hope they understand where that came from.”
The Mustangs took the lead for good in the bottom of the first with a two-run double from Jadyn Pokorny.
Closman singled and advanced to third on Abby Beard’s double. Pokorny followed with a double down the left field line that scored both runners and put Millard North in front 2-1.
“I was looking for something away, probably something a little faster, but I’m pretty sure it was a changeup in,” Pokorny said. “It ended up working out, so it’s all good.”
Severson led off the bottom of the second with a solo home run to left field that increased the Mustang lead to 3-1.
Closman added a solo home run in the fifth for Millard North. Severson and Closman each had two hits.
Ollie Songster had a run-scoring double and allowed seven hits in six innings for the Storm (28-7).
Monday’s win paired with Millard North’s 6-5 win over Lincoln East in the Class A state baseball championship in May, make the Mustangs the first Class A school to win the baseball and softball state titles in the same calendar year since Papillion-La Vista in 1998. The Monarch softball team beat Millard North and the baseball team defeated Omaha Westside.
