Dylan Young’s walk-off single gives Coal City regional semifinal win over Reed-Custer

COAL CITY − Coal City’s Dylan Young was not quite halfway to first base when he started celebrating his base hit in the bottom of the seventh inning of Thursday’s IHSA Class 2A Coal City Regional semifinal against Reed-Custer.

Young’s excitement was due to the fact that, as he approached first, teammate Gavin Berger was behind him rounding third with a full head of steam and heading home as the winning run in a 2-1 walk-off win for the Coalers.

It was the third nail-biter between the Illinois Central Eight Conference rivals this season, with Reed-Custer sweeping Coal City with a 3-1 win in 10 innings on May 5 and a 4-3 win the following day. In the seventh inning Thursday, after Berger doubled to lead off the inning and Ethan Olson was intentionally walked, Young stepped up and made sure the Coalers would get their rivalry win when it mattered most.

“We lost to this team twice earlier year, and we just knew we were going to get a rematch in regionals and we knew we would have what it takes to beat them,” Young said. “This whole game we knew the bats were going to come. We had hard outs the whole game. ... But eventually we started getting hits late and that’s what won it.”

Reed-Custer took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first on a sacrifice fly from Alejandro Fierro. The Coalers kept making consistent contact off Reed-Custer’s Alex Bielfeldt, but Bielfeldt kept rolling and had faced one batter over the minimum entering the sixth inning.

In the bottom of the sixth, Kellen Forsythe hit a ringing double down the line in left for Coal City’s first hit since the first inning. Forsythe was driven in on a one-out single from Lance Cuddy to tie things up heading into the seventh and set the table for Young’s walk-off.

Coal City starting pitcher AJ Wills picked up the win, working around at least one Comet baserunner in every inning but only allowing the one run. He allowed seven hits in seven innings and picked up five strikeouts.

The defense consistently made plays to strand the Comet baserunners, particularly a twisting, running catch from Cuddy a few steps from the wall in left field that saved a run and ended the top of the sixth inning.

Wills said the defense and lineup just kept showing how badly they wanted to keep the season alive.

“I just saw that they wanted to play and come back,” he said. “They wanted to win.”

The Coalers will not have long to celebrate their big win. They will face Wilmington Saturday with a regional title on the line. These two teams split their ICE series earlier in the year, making Coal City the only ICE team and one of two teams in all of Class 2A to beat the Wildcats this season (Bishop McNamara).

“We’re going to see on of the best arms in the state [Wilmington’s Lucas Rink], just a fantastic player and a really good team,” Coal City coach Greg Wills said. “We’re at home, we’ve got one of our guys on the mound ready to go, Lance Cuddy’s going to come at them. We think we’ve got a shot to go get them. Our kids are excited for the opportunity.”

Reed-Custer had its season come to and end at 19-13. Coach Jake Evans and the team were prepared for another close game Thursday, but were ultimately unable to get their third win against a good opponent.

“We’re just so proud of the way they competed,” he said. “We knew coming over here it was going to be a tightly-contested one. It always is with these guys. I thought it was well-played both ways, we just came up a little bit short today.”

Evans shared words with the team’s 10-player senior class following the loss, including Bielfeldt, Joe Bembenek and Brady Tyree, who had two hits apiece in the game, and Landen Robinson, who doubled and scored the team’s run.

“They pick each other up, they love one another, and it was a really fun and really special group to coach,” Evans said. “We’re really going to miss them. ... Our program is a better place because all of them suited up in the black and gold.”