By FRED KRONER
Mahomet-Seymour Softball
One win on Monday (June 6) translated into two more softball games to play for Mahomet-Seymour.
Those games will be at the state tournament, where the Bulldogs will compete for the first time since softball was introduced at M-S in the fall of 1973.
Coach James Heinold’s team took care of business in the Class 3A Decatur super-sectional on Monday as Karley Yergler pitched the Bulldogs past Highland, 4-1, at Millikin University.
Yergler helped her own cause with a two-run home run – her school-record 17th – in the top of the third inning. Scoring ahead of her was Abbey Akers, who had drawn a walk.
“A lot of stress relief,” Heinold said. “Now we’re guaranteed of two more games. It’s not one and done like the last five.”
M-S carried a 4-0 lead into the seventh inning. Maddie Logsdon placed a two-run single between the shortstop and the left fielder in the sixth inning, driving in Yergler and Maddie Cortez.
“We had runners in multiple innings,” Heinold said.
Yergler was 2-for-2. Contributing one hit apiece were Cortez, Logsdon, Chloe Truax and Madi White.
Yergler (24-2) pitched a three-hitter. She walked one and struck out 13, including one to end the game and clinch the state tournament berth.
“She kept them off-balance,” Heinold said.
Her teammates poured out of the third-base dugout at Millikin to celebrate. The first to reach Yergler was her catcher, Kenadi Granadino.
The trophy presentation was followed by pictures – “lots of pictures,” Heinold said – and a stop at Culver’s for a postgame meal.
First-year head coach Heinold and his coaching staff of Mark Jones, Derrick Odle, Ashley (Anglin) Miller and Julia McNaught recognized early-on the potential for the 2022 team. Miller and McNaught are former M-S softball players.
“We saw the opportunities early,” Heinold said. “They stressed to the girls that we had possibilities if we could jell and work together.”
A point of emphasis on Monday before playing the school that won the 2021 state title was that they were playing for more than themselves.
Heinold’s message was, “you’re playing for everyone who came before you, so make the most of it. They wore the uniform with pride.”
There were some jitters early in the school’s historic first super-sectional softball game.
“We were probably a little too revved up,” Heinold said. “We swung at some balls early that were out of the zone, but we were able to dial it back a little bit.”
The team was greeted by a fire truck escort when they returned to town at 8:28 p.m. and were paraded down Oak Street before heading to the high school.
“I’m proud of these girls, the way they battled, fought and supported each other,” Heinold said.
Next up for M-S (27-5 with a six-game winning streak) is Chicago St. Ignatius (28-8-1 with a five-game winning streak) on Friday (June 10) in the 12:30 p.m. IHSA state semifinal game in Peoria.
The state third-place game on Saturday (June 11) will be at 9 a.m. with the championship game that day at 11:30 a.m.
In five postseason games, M-S has outscored its opponents, 34-8.
In five postseason games, St. Ignatius has outscored its opponents 40-3, with all the runs being allowed in the sectional finals. St. Ignatius beat St. Laurence 1-0 in a super-sectional game on Monday.
St. Ignatius’ only previous state appearance resulted in a fourth-place finish in 2014. The Wolfpack are led by pitcher Ellie Giles (0.52 ERA and five home runs) and Abby Lee (.375 batting average).
