Bishop McNamara outlasts Manteno in two-day, nine-inning regional semi thriller

KANKAKEE – Bishop McNamara senior catcher Bridget Bertrand ended the regular season in an untraditional funk. She was getting good contact on the ball, but was struggling to find a spot in the field that wasn’t occupied by a defender.

So in the ninth inning of McNamara’s IHSA Class 2A Coal City Regional semifinal against Manteno, Bertrand instead hit it where no defender could catch it – over the fence.

Bertrand’s two-run home run to left field was the highlight of a three-run ninth that gave the six-seeded Irish (21-5) a 10-7 upset over No. 2 Manteno (21-8-1) in an instant classic that took two days and nine innings to complete.

Prior to her at-bat, Bertrand caught up with head coach Alee Rashenskas and Rhaya DePaolo, who was on base after driving in Analeah Ramirez with the go-ahead RBI single, during a Manteno timeout. That’s where she made a promise to DePaolo that she kept good on.

“I’ve been struggling at the plate a bit with hitting the ball right to someone, but I’ve been hitting it hard,” Bertrand said. “I went up to [Rashenskas], she gave me some motivational words, and I turned to Rhaya DePaolo, one of our key sophomores in this game and a lot of our games, and I told her I’d see her soon, and I did. I sent us both to the dugout with that one at-bat.”

Bertrand’s homer was the third of the game for the Irish, who saw the Panthers build an early 5-0 lead through the third inning Tuesday afternoon. Before heavy rains forced the game to be resumed Wednesday afternoon, Vivian Dole’s solo homer sparked a three-run top of the fourth to trim the Irish deficit to 5-3 when play resumed in the bottom of the fourth Wednesday afternoon.

Following a two-run Manteno fifth, Irish senior shortstop and Northwestern commit Teagan McCue led off a four-run top of the sixth with a solo homer to center on a 2-2 offering from Manteno ace Ava Peterson, giving McNamara its first jolt of energy Wednesday after fully grabbing it before play was suspended Tuesday.

“She’s been one of our constants all season,” Rashenskas said of McCue. “To have two strikes on her and her to send it over the fence like that was exactly what we needed.”

After both Ava Peterson and McNamara’s Victoria Torres each got out of the seventh and eighth unscathed, Ramirez roped a one-out single and came around to score on DePaolo’s double, with DePaolo taking third on a late throw home.

And on a 1-2 count the next at-bat, Bertrand had the swing of her prep career with the ultimate insurance.

“She’s my feisty one for sure, but I’m super proud of her, always confident in her abilities and I think she’d been due for a big one,” Rashenskas said. “She got it.”

An Irish error allowed Manteno’s Savanna Watkins to reach first to open the bottom of the ninth, reaching second on Alyssa Singleton’s one-out bunt. After Ava Peterson smashed her third hit of the game – a rocket that ricocheted off the glove of Ramirez at third and was almost caught by a diving McCue – Torres got Jaz Manau to line to McCue for the third out.

Coming back for a second day and pitching a total of 10 innings, Torres was nothing short of gassed by the end of the game, but the end result was clearly worth the effort.

“It is exhausting,” Torres said. “Just knowing it’s my game and that I have to keep throwing for my team, no matter what, just keeps me going.”

Ramirez, DePaolo and Torres each had four hits for a McNamara lineup that totaled 21 of them. McCue, Ramirez, DePaolo and Dole each scored twice, with Bertrand pacing the lineup with three RBIs. Torres allowed seven earned runs on 15 hits, a walk and four strikeouts.

For the Panthers, Ava Peterson’s three hits led the lineup while Manau, Macy Iwanus, Julie Ott and Singleton had two apiece. Ott also drove in a team-high two runs. Ava Peterson allowed eight earned runs on 21 hits, four walks and eight strikeouts.

All five of the Panthers with multi-hit days, as well as southpaw pitcher Bella Gigliello, played their final games in Panther purple Wednesday, the final game for a class that will be remembered by not just coach Josh Carlile, but the entire Manteno community for their contributions in softball, basketball and volleyball, where they won at least one Illinois Central Eight Conference and/or regional title in all three sports.

“Passion,” Carlile said about how he’ll remember his seniors. “That’s really been it. They’ve always led, always been the first ones to show up, first ones to say something, all that stuff. They’re a great group and they’re going to be missed.”

The Irish return to Coal City to take on the host Coalers in the regional championship at 4:30 p.m. Friday.