BBCHS secures regional four-peat with 7-1 win in 11-inning thriller

BOURBONNAIS − When the Bradley-Bourbonnais softball team came together in the infield to celebrate their win in the IHSA Class 4A Bradley-Bourbonnais Regional championship on Friday, the program’s fourth regional title in a row, they did so quite a bit later than expected.

Seven innings were not enough to wrap up the game between the host Boilermakers and Rock Island. Neither were eight, nine or 10.

It was not until the top 11th inning that the Boilermakers, the visiting team on the scoreboard, managed to pull ahead with a big six-run frame, breaking a Boilermaker scoreless drought that went back to the second inning.

With the comfort of a 7-1 lead, Lydia Hammond went back to the circle in the bottom of the 11th to finish off a marathon complete-game performance, sending the Boilermakers into Tuesday’s IHSA Class 4A Normal Community West Sectional semifinals.

“It was really electric,” Hammond said. “We were high in energy throughout all those innings, and I think that really made a big impact on our game today.”

Hammond had 16 strikeouts on Friday, just two days after recording 10 strikeouts in a two-hit shutout in an 8-0 win over Normal Community in the regional semifinals. She allowed 10 hits to Rock Island, with a solo home run in the bottom of the sixth being the only one to do real damage.

Hammond had more strikeouts after that sixth-inning homer than she did before, and as she powered through the longest outing of her career, she said she was just focused on finishing strong.

“I always tell myself to get stronger each inning,” she said. “I want to keep gaining and keep getting better throughout the game, and that’s something I tell myself. Also, our team worked for this just knowing that our work was going to show today on the field. It did.”

The Boilermakers got on the board first with a solo home run from Leila Middlebrook in the top of the second. Their six-run rally in the 11th relied on a little more small ball.

After back-to-back walks to open the inning, senior Suttyn Hop got down a hard bunt that got behind the charging infielders, allowing Bristol Schriefer to score all the way from second base.

“There was just so much relief,” Hop said of the team breaking through after eight scoreless innings. “There was a lot of energy. For a while it was kind of down, but once we started scoring it was energy overload.”

Hammond made it 3-1 by scoring on a wild pitch. Hop then scored on a wild pitch in the next at bat, which ended with a two-run double from Tristin Woods to make it 6-1. Shannon Lee ended the scoring with a sacrifice bunt that drove in Woods.

While Friday marked Bradley-Bourbonnais’ fourth regional win in a row, for about half of the team’s roster, it was their first. Even among the team’s four seniors, only center fielder Bella Pusateri has been around for all four regional titles.

“It’s just a bittersweet experience because this is the last time I’ll ever play on this field,” she said. “It just feels awesome that we can build this program to be where we’re at, and getting four in a row for the first time in school history. I’m excited to see the future for these girls, just keep pushing forward and aiming for more.”

The Boilermakers will play Minooka at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, looking to avenge a 10-0 loss to the Indians in the sectional semifinals last season. While Minooka competed in the BBCHS Invitational in early May, the two teams did not meet, making Tuesday’s game the Boilermakers’ first shot at some payback.

“We’re excited for repeat with Minooka,” head coach Haylee Austell said. “Last year we just didn’t put our best foot forward when we played them. We’ve been looking for a redemption game all year, and we thought maybe it was going to come in our tournament when they were here, but we didn’t cross paths. Now we’re able to play them again in that sectional semi, and we really feel like we’ve had a ‘why not us’ mentality all year.”