Runs were hard to come by in Thursday’s Class B softball state championship game, and when Gretna had a chance to score, Natalie Boozikee came through.
Boozikee blooped an offering from Gretna East’s Brynlea Beyer into left field for a single that scored a pair of runs in the third inning, and those two runs were all the third-seeded Dragons needed in a 2-1 win over their crosstown rivals.
“That’s the kid we want up there at that point,” Gretna coach Bill Heard said of Boozikee. “She’s such a good teammate that the softball finds her.”
With the win, the Dragons (26-5) claimed their third state championship and their second in three years after winning the title in Class A in 2024.
Ella Vance opened the third with a walk and Morgan Daniel followed with a single to put two runners on with no outs. Beyer got the next two Dragons to fly out to left, but after the second one, Vance noticed no one was covering third and advanced there when the ball was back in the infield.
“That’s Ella,” Heard said. “She’s done that more times than I can count this year. She’s just instinctual on the bases.”
“We kind of lost focus for a couple seconds, and we didn’t look her back at second and no one was at third and they took third,” Gretna East coach Wade Tracy said.
Daniel took off for second on the first pitch to Boozikee and when the throw went back to Beyer, the Dragons had two runners in scoring position.
Boozikee’s single fell in between Griffin left fielder Charlotte Beach and shortstop Mandi Weis to put the Dragons in front 2-1.
“We worked a lot on inside (pitches), so I was really hoping for that pitch,” Boozikee said. “I just wanted to do it for my team.”
Dragon pitcher Taelyn Rupiper made Boozikee’s hit stand up by tossing a four-hitter. She struck out seven and had just one walk.
“There’s been a lot of big-moment games in my career and just practicing staying calm in one pitch at a time and knowing that my defense is behind me has really helped me through that,” Rupiper said.
The top-seeded Griffins (28-6) took a 1-0 lead with a run off Rupiper in the first as Rylee Hayduk singled home Kaylin Hinerman, who led off the inning with a double.
From there, Rupiper retired 18 of the final 22 hitters she faced and did not allow the Griffins to get a runner beyond second base.
“I think Tay, like all of our kids, had to kind of figure out how good she can be and what she’s capable of,” Heard said of the South Dakota State commit. “And I’m not even sure she’s quite got that yet to be completely honest, but man, she’s such a good leader and such a good human being.”
Vance and Daniel each reached base twice for the Dragons, with each having a single and a walk.
Beyer allowed just five hits and struck out six for the Griffins.
