Mahomet-Seymour softball to play for 3rd place in IHSA 3A finals on Saturday
By FRED KRONER
Mahomet-Seymour Softball
A season of unparalleled firsts won’t end with the most coveted one – a state championship – but not even a 3-0 loss to Chicago St. Ignatius in the Class 3A state semifinals on Friday (June 10) at Peoria can put a damper on Mahomet-Seymour’s most successful softball season in school history.
The damper came courtesy of Mother Nature – who provided enough rainfall to warrant three weather delays, two in the bottom of the sixth inning – and a pitcher who held M-S scoreless for the first time in 33 games this spring.
The elapsed time from first pitch to the final one at Champions Field was nearly 4 hours.
The Bulldogs (27-6) get a chance to bounce back on Saturday (June 11) in the 9 a.m. third-place game against Antioch (29-4).
St. Ignatius senior Ellie Giles (22-4) stymied M-S on one hit – a sixth-inning single by Madi White – and struck out 22 batters in the seven-inning contest. White was the lone Bulldog who didn’t strikeout each time she batted.
The Bulldogs are not alone in being unable to connect against Giles, a right-hander whose current total of 463 strikeouts ranks eighth on the all-time IHSA single-season list.
“We lost our discipline at the plate,” M-S coach James Heinold said. “She had us chasing pitches out of the zone.”
The first 17 batters who faced Giles were set down on strikes before White broke up the no-hit bid. One teammate – Maddie Logsdon – reached base when a third strike got away from the catcher.
Logsdon and White – the team’s two freshmen starters – were the Bulldogs’ lone base runners.
Giles’ strikeout total broke the record for any Class 3A state tournament game.
Heinold tried to use the rain delay to get his players refocused.
“It gave us a chance to regroup and reiterate the lack of discipline,” Heinold said, “but the batter who was up (Jayden Hannah) had an 0-2 count when they called the delay.
“We tried to take time to visualize our previous at-bats, but we were down to our final four outs.”
St. Ignatius (29-8-1) pushed across single runs against Karley Yergler (23-3) in the fourth, fifth and seventh innings.
Yergler allowed just four hits – three going for extra bases – walked one and struck out eight.
“She pitched really well, well enough to get a win,” Heinold said, “but we couldn’t support her offensively.”
Yergler, a Parkland College recruit, raised her school-record strikeout total this season to 362.
Among the M-S firsts this season in softball:
–a school-record win total (presently at 27, four more than the previous mark);
–a state trophy, which will be presented on Saturday;
–a super-sectional victory;
–a sectional championship;
–all-conference and all-state accolades (yet to be announced);
–numerous team and individual school records.
Heinold believed the magnitude of the situation affected his players.
“The meaning of what this meant to Mahomet weighed on their shoulders,” Heinold said. “They tensed up and were not loose and relaxed like they know how.
“They were upset, but after our talk, they were good. They know they have to think what to do to be more relaxed.”
In the Saturday season-finale, which will be played on the 88th day after the season-opener (against an opponent which qualified for state in Class 2A, Tolono Unity), the Bulldogs will try to avoid a first.
M-S has lost five games in this special season, but never two in a row.
Antioch fell into the third-place game after a 3-1 semifinal loss to Lemont on Friday.
