Kate Wilson had her Hoosiers moment on Thursday afternoon in Game 1 of the 4A state championship series at BYU.
Stepping into the circle in the top of the first inning, her nerves were through the roof.
“I was pretty nervous honestly. I try to hide it the best I can. But I was kind of like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is the coolest thing I‘ve ever done,’” said the junior Wilson.
The ace for top seed Bear River settled down quickly though, striking out the side in both the second and fourth inning, as the Bears pulled away from No. 2 seed Desert Hills for the 6-3 victory in Game 1 of the Best-of-3 series.
The teams return to Gail Miller Field on Friday morning at 11 a.m. for Game 2 as Bear River seeks its state record 12th state championship, and first since 2023.
Wilson was a freshman when Bear River won it in 2023, and she had a front row seat to watch former Bears ace Kate Dahle lead her team to the championship. She’ll have a chance on Friday to do the exact same thing.
“I learned to be mentally tough like she was. She was a great inspiration to me,” said Wilson. “I thought she was so cool. She was always so within herself, but she celebrated good things, and she celebrated with her teammates, and made sure to include a lot of people. And it was really great playing with her. It was such a cool experience to know her.”
Wilson finished with nine strikeouts and got better as the game wore on.
“That is the epitome of Kate Wilson. She gets better as the game goes on, and it’s been like that all year. She knows it too, and everyone knows it, we get past the first inning, and she just gets better as we go on,” said Bear River coach Jordan Theurer.
Desert Hills, which lost in last year’s 4A championship series, actually struck first in the top of the first inning on an RBI double by Bailey Lee.
Bear River answered right back manufacturing a couple of runs on a hit by pitch and fielders choice grounder after loading the bases. It was nothing flashy, but helped the Bears jump ahead 2-1.
In the second inning, a triple by Bostyn Lish helped set the stage for another two-run inning as Aubree Fry and Luci Roche followed with RBIs to extend the lead to 4-1.
Lish finished the game going 3 for 4, but she also provided the big defensive play of the game for Bear River as she robbed Desert Hills’ Lulu West of a home run with a catch at the fence to lead off the third inning.
“Bos last year at state robbed two home runs for us over at Spanish Fork in our first couple games,” said Theurer. “She just got a good read on it …. And just being able to stay locked in, in the moment, find the fence, and especially in a new surroundings, that’s one thing that our outfield coach went and told them, go find the fence, feel the warning track, know where you are. And I think that was a huge, huge benefit that she did that before.”
Bear River extended the lead to 5-1 in the inning on a throwing error.
Desert Hills, however, kept within striking distance in the fifth inning as Riley Greene tripled home West after her one-out walk, and then Greene scored on an RBI single by Lee to cut the deficit to 5-3.
In the sixth, Bear River played small ball to add another insurance run after Roche and Marley Tisdol opened the inning with back-to-back singles. Kendyl Archibald’s sac bunt moved both runners into scoring position, and then Roche scored to make it 6-3 on a ground ball to second base.
Despite the nerves her players felt from the opening inning, Theurer was proud of how they battled through them to grab the 1-0 series lead.
“I think it’s normal to have nerves, but their nerves were very locked in. They kept them under control. Yesterday, I think with Ridgeline, that’s where all of our nerves really came to a head. And then this game they were — they just came loose,” said Theurer.