PEORIA — That one big play seemed to elude Dunlap.
The Eagles lost to Antioch 6-1 in the Class 3A softball state semifinals on Friday, June 5 at Louisville Slugger Sports Complex. Fifth-ranked Dunlap (30-9) now plays for a third-place trophy on Saturday, June 6, while No. 2 Antioch (33-3) advances to the state title game for the third time in four seasons.
“(Antioch) came to play championship ball and that’s exactly what they did,” Dunlap coach Germaine Fairchild said. “… That’s a great team. If they are eventually the champ, we’ll wear that feather in our cap a little bit, but we’re first going to go out and win a trophy (on Saturday) and give it our best shot.”
Dunlap now gets a chance at bettering the program’s 1992 Class A fourth-place finish.
“Just being here,” Dunlap senior Sutton Centoni said, “having the opportunity to play two days in a row and knowing that we played to the end of our season is just amazing.”
Centoni, who played hero in the supersectional with a walk-off single, bounced back from a rough top of the first. She gave up a single to leadoff Tegan Schuler and appeared to get a second strikeout, but Antioch third-hitter Samantha Hillner, an Illinois-Chicago signee, was able to occupy first on a dropped third strike.
From there, Addison Webb, Rylee Dunlavy and Kailyn Bockwoldt all had two-out run-scoring hits. Webb, who is signed with Bradley, roped a pitch up the middle to start the scoring, plating Schuler and Hillner.
“I knew it was me or no one else, because there was two outs,” Webb said. “Just knowing I needed to do this for my team and it’ll be a big thing for this game, it’ll really impact the game.
“… The hit itself really hyped up the team. Looking at them from second base, they were all screaming in the dugout. It made it feel real. Holy cow, we’re at state right now.”
A third K from Centoni in the frame put Dunlap back in the dugout prepping for its first at-bats down 4-0.
“I think just settling in,” the Illini signee said of the early-game jitters. “The atmosphere was amazing, but it just took a minute to adjust, for sure, as a team and after that first inning, I think we had each other’s backs and we bounced back. It just wasn’t enough.”
Sure enough, the Eagles responded in the bottom half of the first. Lexi Hamer drew a lead-off walk, advanced to second on Addie Reed’s single and ended up on third off a Gabby Drake flyout.
Hamer then scored thanks to Centoni’s one-out RBI-groundout.
“I think that showed our response,” Centoni said. “I think it showed that we were still in the game. We weren’t going to let those runs affect us 100 percent.”
But Dunlap left seven runners on base and saw Antioch make some incredible defensive plays highlighted by an unassisted double play by Minnesota commit Claire Schuyler.
“We were able to squeak a few hits across,” Centoni said. “We were making good contact but just couldn’t get that big moment to get us going.”
And Centoni got in a groove as well. The right-hander (21-4) did give up a pair of runs in the fourth but walked none and struck out 10. She allowed seven hits and six earned runs after only having 16 over the first 38 games.
Antioch coach Anthony Rocco says his team had two days to prepare for Centoni and had seen several high-major Division-I committed pitchers already this season.
“We had them well-scouted out,” Rocco said. “We knew what she was going to be throwing, what she likes to go with, so we had a good plan. … We’ve seen some outstanding pitching.
“I knew we weren’t going to be nervous. We chased a couple of pitches and that’s about it. We have a lot of D-I hitters in our lineup.”
Dunlavy and Bockwoldt each went 2-for-3 for Antioch, which stole four bases and left three on. Six Dunlap hitters — Hamer, Reed, Gabby Drake, Hallie Reed, Addison Forsythe and Hannah Parker — each had a base-knock.
Freshman Pearl Wenzel (16-0) finished with two strikeouts and three walks in the complete-game effort for the Sequoits.
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: Dunlap softball loses in the IHSA Class 3A state semifinals
Reporting by Adam Duvall, Peoria Journal Star / Journal Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Adam Duvall, Peoria Journal Star | USA TODAY Network
