Dakota is headed back to the IHSA Class 1A state softball tournament.
“Nothing rattles these girls,” Dakota head coach Jeff Kinney said after his team pulled off a 6-5 super-sectional, come-from-behind win.
But Stillman Valley fell in extra innings to miss out on its shot in 2A.
Elmhurst IC Catholic pushed across the only run of the game in the eighth inning to hold off Stillman Valley, 1-0, in Monday’s 2A Lisle Super-Sectional. Both teams were 29-5 headed in, and both teams took second in their respective conference-title races down the backstretch of the regular season. That appears to have just motivated each of them even more as they battled in a scoreless tie most of the way.
In the 1A slugfest, Dakota (29-4) fell behind 3-0 to Biggsville West Central, but battled back. After getting no-hit through four innings, Bella Keyes keyed Dakota’s six-run bottom of the fifth with a roped double into the corner, and she went 2-for-3 with a run scored to lead the way at the plate.
Dakota then leaned on AJ Howarth on the mound the rest of the way. She struck out six and walked only one, giving up four earned runs on 13 hits, but minimizing the damage at every turn.
And now, after finishing in fourth place at 1A state last year, Dakota now has a shot at surpassing that. And with stars like Howarth hitting their strides at just the right time, it could happen.
“This team really is playing well,” Kinney said. “And they kind of know the routine, so let’s see how it goes.”
Dakota will take on Okawville at 10 a.m. Thursday in the 1A state semifinals at Louisville Slugger Stadium in Peoria. The winner plays in the 1A state championship game at 10 a.m. Saturday back in Peoria, while the loser returns for the third-place game at 10:15 a.m. Friday.
Jay Taft is a Rockford Register Star sports reporter. Email him at jtaft@rrstar.com and sign up for the Rockford High School Sports Newsletter here at rrstar.com. Jay has covered a variety of sports, from the Chicago Bears and Blackhawks to local youth sports, since the turn of the century at the Register Star.
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Dakota flies back to state softball, while Stillman Valley bows out
Reporting by Jay Taft, Rockford Register Star / Rockford Register Star
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