Valley, Neb. – The Central City-Fullerton Post 6 Juniors got their revenge on Wednesday night by defeating the ETC Knights (Elkhorn) 10-0 to secure the 2024 Class B Juniors State Championship. Central City finished their season with a near-perfect 29-1 record. Their only loss came the previous night when ETC shook off an early 2-0 deficit to win 4-3 to force Wednesday’s “winner-take-all” contest.
Now that the 2024 Juniors season has come to an end, it’s worth looking at how the KUVR area teams fared. Holdrege, Loomis, and Minden all finished with fantastic records with Loomis and Minden qualifying for their respective state tournaments. The three teams, separated by roughly 30 miles, combined to go 53-17-1 this summer. Each team has shown their commitment, hard-work, and determination to go along with some outstanding talent.
Loomis qualified for state in Class C after sweeping through the Area 6 bracket, allowing only two runs in four games. They traveled to Boelus and took on Albion in their first game. Loomis won 8-3 after giving up two runs in the top of the first inning. Unfortunately, Loomis would fall in their next two games to Pender and Hartington. At 19-4-1, Loomis had one of the best records in Class C and qualified for their first state tournament in 10 years.
Minden took the Class B Area 6 crown after enduring a third-round loss to York and staving off elimination with a win against Broken Bow before facing York again. The Minden Juniors needed to beat York twice to win the tournament. It was tall task, but they were up to it winning 11-8 and 17-9 in back-to-back games to punch their ticket to the Class B State Tournament. A pair of one-run losses to Crete and Brester Construction (Lincoln Christian) ended their season with a 17-7 record.
The Holdrege Wilkins ADP Juniors started off strong with six consecutive wins before experiencing their first loss of 2024. Heading into the final week of their season, Holdrege had lost only twice. A weather-shortened 2-1 defeat against DCB (Dannebrog-Cairo-Boelus), a comeback that fell short in the league championship game against Central City, and two close losses in the B6 Area Tournament derailed a promising season. Holdrege earned a trip to the Mid-Nebraska Legion Baseball League championship game for the third consecutive season and finished 2024 with a 17-6 record.
Malcolm won the Class C State Championship after a 3-1 win over Hartington on Wednesday. The Class A bracket is set to begin on Saturday in Kearney.
