By FRED KRONER
For the record, Mahomet-Seymour’s 2-0 softball victory over Springfield on Tuesday (May 31) in the Class 3A sectional semifinals at Mount Zion was the team’s 25th win of the season and the 15th shutout for pitcher Karley Yergler.
In historic terms, it was much more than those two school records would indicate.
Varsity softball was introduced at M-S in the fall of 1973. It took exactly 50 seasons of competition for the Bulldogs to win a game at the sectional level.
That milestone win occurred shortly after 8 p.m. on Tuesday when M-S wrapped up its advancement into the IHSA’s Sweet Sixteen and a berth in Friday’s sectional championship game against Chatham Glenwood, which advanced with a 13-3 thumping over Mount Zion.
Yergler struck out 18 Springfield batters and received all of the run support she needed when the Bulldogs pushed across single runs in the first and third innings, both scored by Jayden Hannah.
It was the perfect game to headline the inaugural sectional triumph.
And, in fact, it was truly a perfect game. Springfield could not manage a hit or draw a walk and no Senators reached base by an error.
Yergler faced 18 batters and retired all 21, improving her season record to 22-2. She threw 73 pitches and 63 were strikes.
The no-hitter was her fourth as a senior and the perfect game was her first.
Hannah, Maddie Cortez and Maddie Logsdon each collected two hits for the Bulldogs. Cortez and Kenadi Granadino drove in the runs.
Yergler and Granadino each had one hit. All eight M-S hits were singles.
Cortez and Kayla McKinney each stole a base.
In three postseason games, Yergler has stepped in the batter’s box 11 times and has been walked on eight of those appearances.
M-S’ bid for its first sectional championship, against Chatham Glenwood’s defending sectional titlists, will start at 4:30 p.m. on Friday at Mount Zion.
