‘Kind of surreal’: Bishop Kelly navigates long road to 5A softball title

Three Treasure Valley softball teams won state championships Saturday coming from the winners’ bracket and needing no extra games to secure the top trophy.

Then there was Bishop Kelly, which had no choice but to do things the hard way in the 5A state tournament at Skyview High in Nampa.

The fourth-seeded Knights (25-6) lost their opening game Thursday to Skyview to fall into the losers’ bracket.

They didn’t lose again.

After three wins Friday, they strung together three more Saturday, first avenging the loss to Skyview by beating the Hawks 10-7 to make the finals. Then BK used its potent offense to beat No. 6 seed Lewiston in back-to-back games, winning 10-6 in the championship contest to set off the celebration.

“It’s kind of surreal,” Bishop Kelly coach Travis Ribordy said. “They kind of came together at the end and played their best softball.”

Playing seven games in three days, Bishop Kelly fought through Saturday’s rain and pain to win its first softball championship since 2022, and third in the past six state tourneys.

The Knights did it by scoring 39 runs in three games Saturday, routing Lewiston 19-2 — that included an 11-run fourth inning — to force the if-necessary game.

UNLV signee Lauren Fettic was the winning pitcher in all three games, and she limited Lewiston to just one run and five hits while striking out 11 in 5 2/3 innings in the decisive victory. She also contributed offensively all day, hitting a two-run homer in the final game.

“It was just the adrenaline rush,” Fettic said. “We were all so excited to be here, and considering we lost the first game, we wanted to get back to where we should be, and we knew we should have been first.

“So we had to keep that mindset throughout every single game that we played. We thought about just hitting the ball, getting the ball in play as much as we can and letting (Lewiston) make mistakes.”

The final game was locked at 3-3 before a Lewiston error allowed two Bishop Kelly runners home in the second inning. Freshman Kingsley Shea then hit an RBI triple as the Knights seized control.

Shea was a big part of the offensive onslaught Saturday, as were several Knights. She scored seven runs and drove in three on the day.

Gracie Cammann drove in five runs and scored five in the three games, including a 3-for-3 performance with three RBIs in the 19-2 rout. Olivia Watt was 4-for-9 with five RBIs on the day, and Allie Warren had a monster game in the first win over the Bengals, going 3-for-4 with five RBIs.

Shea, Cammann and Warren all homered in the first game against Lewiston, a mercy-rule affair that lasted just five innings.

“We just talked about how our top 12 is the strongest top 12 we’ve had for a long time,” Ribordy said. “They just believed and trusted each other and trusted in themselves.

“We’re tough to beat and we put individual goals and accomplishments aside. We definitely saw that this weekend.”

This story was originally published May 17, 2025 at 8:30 PM.