People like winning: Fort Calhoun softball opens postseason as top subdistrict seed

Published 2:58 pm Monday, October 5, 2026

The Fort Calhoun softball team hosts the subdistrict tournament today, Monday, October 5, as the top seed, one week after winning the Nebraska Capitol Conference tournament for the second time in school history.

Fort Calhoun opens against Milford at 2 p.m. Guardian Angels Central Catholic and Palmyra meet at 4 p.m., and Fort Calhoun is scheduled to play the winner at 6 p.m. if it advances.

Districts are Friday, in a best-of-three format. The state tournament begins Oct. 14.

“You have to win two games to go to state,” senior pitcher Tacey Belina said.

Fort Calhoun won three games in a row Sept. 28 to take the nine-team conference tournament. The team also won the title two years ago. The tournament was moved to Arlington because of rain. It had been scheduled for a turf facility that was not ready.

“This year, the weather actually helped us, because it moved it to an actual facility,” said Aaron Belina, Tacey’s father. “We ended up playing at Arlington, which has a fantastic complex. They were able to host everything, and it was all on dirt.”

Rain shaped much of the regular season. Games were canceled or moved, and many were played on the road. The team practiced at an indoor facility on rainout days. “We’ve had a couple of teams we’ve offered to host, but they don’t want to lose a home game, so we’re trying to rework,” Aaron Belina said. “We had some games rescheduled, and then it got rained out again.”

When Tacey Belina was an eighth-grader serving as a team manager, Fort Calhoun had 10 players and could not field a junior varsity team. “We had 22 girls on the team earlier this year,” Aaron Belina said. “Four years ago, they barely had enough. They only had 10.”

Tacey Belina credited several classes of players with the change. “Knowing where our team has come from — not even winning anything at conference, not even making it to subs, not even making it to districts, having 10 people on the team — the classes of ’25, ’26, ’27 and even ’28, we kind of all pushed our team to where it is now,” she said.

She also pointed to the school’s weight program. “They didn’t let girls even work out in the weight room until 2013, which is appalling to me, but I was 5,” she said. “It was like, ‘Oh, the football team does this. That makes sense.’ But they never thought about weightlifting for girls sports.”

Asked why crowds have grown, Aaron Belina said, “People like winning. The team’s good.”

“We have a very good pool of supporting parents,” he said. “The school supports the team well. The staff shows up. The football players will come down after practices. I’ve seen volleyball girls at the games after their own games are over.”

Fort Calhoun, coached by Mandy Taylor, has five seniors: Belina, Kayla Kratz, Madilyn Larrick, Lydia Kmitta and Emily Warfield. Four of them start. The group reached state once before.

Tacey Belina pitches and plays third base and the outfield. She holds multiple school records in hitting and pitching. Larrick plays center field and catches, and leads the team with nine stolen bases. Kratz, a pitcher, has an arm injury that keeps her from throwing, but she is cleared to bat and run. Warfield starts at first base. Freshman Bella Nelson also catches. Junior Rylie Keyser leads the team with a .492 batting average, and junior Isabel Wray leads the pitching staff with a 1.84 ERA.

“Your catcher kind of runs your field,” Tacey Belina said.

This season, Fort Calhoun began calling pitches through watches worn by players. “It’ll literally say curveball,” Tacey Belina said. “We used to just call pitches with numbers, with hands. I don’t really care. I just need to know what to throw.”

Tacey Belina said most of the team spent the summer in the weight room at 7 a.m., followed by softball practice, while also playing for travel teams on weekends. “You’re not just doing softball when you have to,” she said. “You’re doing it because you chose to. Over half of our team goes to hitting lessons. Our pitchers go to pitching lessons. They’re in their garages working at night.”

She said Kratz, one of her best friends, will practice until 5:30 p.m. and then work at Chick-fil-A from 6:30 to 11 p.m. “It doesn’t pertain to softball, but the work ethic that the girls have toward everything in their life shows on the field as well,” she said.

Asked whether winning, sportsmanship or friendship matters most, she said it is tiered. “How you play the game comes before anything, because if you don’t play the game in a respectful and honorable way, your wins don’t matter,” she said. “If you play the game right, then you’ll win, and then you get the privilege of winning with your friends.”

Tacey Belina committed in February to Peru State College, where she will play softball and major in criminal justice and legal studies, with a minor in history. She plans to attend law school.

“I think it’ll be difficult, but playing a sport and going to school is nothing different than what I do now,” she said. Before the games today, Monday, October 5, she said she would not make predictions.

“I’m not going to speak of anything prematurely, but I’m very optimistic about it,” she said.