CHILLICOTHE — One big inning was all Brimfield/Elmwood needed to make its return to the Elite Eight.
The Indians used a four-run sixth inning to beat St. Bede, 4-1, at the Class 2A Illinois Valley Central Sectional championship on Friday. Brimfield (33-3) heads to the East Peoria Supersectional and faces Beecher (34-2) at 4:30 p.m. Monday for a berth in the softball state finals for the first time since a 2015 Class 2A state runner-up finish.
Down 1-0 entering the sixth, Brimfield used two errors and a Sawyer Drury single to load the bases. Reese Legaspi’s sacrifice fly tied the game, then Layla Hersemann tripled to score a pair and put the Indians for good. Brooke Allen’s RBI bunt single completed the scoring.
Drury, a Creighton recruit, got out of a jam in the seventh. She gave up consecutive singles before stranding the two runners with back-to-back strikeouts to end the game.
The junior pitcher, who had half of Brimfield’s four hits, struck out 15, walked one and scattered four hits in the complete-game effort.
St. Bede (16-13) got to Drury in the first when a two-out, RBI double from Macy Strauch gave the Bruins a 1-0 advantage.
CLASS 1A
Havana 7, Liberty 5
CONCORD — Havana rallied from a four-run deficit Friday to win its first sectional championship in program history.
The Ducks (25-3-1) advance to the 4:30 p.m. Monday supersectional in Athens to face Carrollton (35-1). An Elite Eight win would give Havana its first girls state trophy in school history.
Havana — winners of nine in a row — trailed 5-1 entering the bottom of the fifth when their bats finally came alive. Four hits highlighted by a go-ahead, two-out RBI triple from Jenna Brooks gave the Ducks a lasting lead.
This came after Aidan Kline tied the game when she beat the throw home on a fielder’s choice from Hannah Hodgson. Back-to-back run-scoring extra-base hits from Addie Atwater (two-RBI triple) and Maddie Howerter (RBI double) got the Ducks within a run before Kline’s run.
Eight different Havana players had a hit including Kaydi Miller hitting a solo home run in the first. Howerter (11-3) battled back from a three-run first inning to get the win on eight strikeouts and three walks.
Henry 2, Biggsville West Central 1
ALPHA — Henry made program history with its first sectional championship.
The Mallards (25-3) now head to the Sterling Supersectional and face Dakota (23-5) at 4:30 p.m. Monday. Much like Havana, no Henry girls athletics team has come home with a state trophy.
That hope is still alive thanks to some heads-up Henry base running with two outs in the bottom of the fifth. A Brynna Anderson single to center plated Lauren Harbison and Kaitlyn Anderson on an errant throw.
From there, Harbison retired the final seven hitters in order to give Henry its 11th win in a row. She finished with 11 strikeouts, no walks and allowed four hits.
Adam Duvall is a Journal Star sports reporter. Email him at aduvall@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @AdamDuvall.
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Big rally, big history: How 3 Peoria-area softball teams won IHSA sectional championships
Reporting by Adam Duvall, Peoria Journal Star / Journal Star
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