Iroquois West catcher Cameron Bork and her fellow seniors graduated back on May 16, but they might not be done leaving their mark on their school quite yet.

Just under a week after donning their caps and gowns, they will be back in their softball uniforms and on their home field for Friday’s IHSA Class 1A Iroquois West Regional championship game against Heyworth, where they will look to secure the first regional title for the program.

Bork and the Raiders (11-13) advanced to the title game by beating Vermilion Valley Conference rival Milford/Cissna Park (14-6) 9-5 in Wednesday’s semifinal, rallying for eight runs in the third inning and holding on from there to score the upset in the No. 6 seed against the No. 3 Bobcats.

“This team, they’re amazing, and to get to be out here another time with them is very special,” Bork said. “I think our hard work is all really paying off. We’re coming together as a team. We all get along, we all have each other’s backs and we play as a team, and that’s really important in getting us here.”

That third-inning rally started when Jordyn Meents reached on a dropped third strike and was driven in on a double from Amelia Scharp. Two batters later, Bork doubled home Scharp and Kyla Dewitt to make it a 3-0 game.

Leah Honeycutt and Tessa Pankey each added an RBI hit and Meents drove in two runs with a single before a sacrifice fly from Scharp capped the scoring.

That rally would not have been nearly as impactful if not for some of the big pitches made by sophomore starter Autumn Miller in the bottom of the second.

With the bases loaded, two outs and Addison Lucht, one of the state’s best hitters, on deck, Miller picked up her third strikeout of the inning to escape the jam.

“Really, [my mindset] was to just try to get an easy play for my team,” she said. “As a pitcher, I always try to get them a ground ball of an easy pop fly for my outfield, because I trust my outfield a lot.

“...It feels really good to get this win and be in the championship.”

The Bearcats got on the board in the bottom of the third when Lucht was hit by a pitch, stole second and scored on a single by Evie Niebuhr.

After Iroquois West’s Hadley Beeler drove in Miller with a single in the top of the fourth, Lucht drilled a solo home run to center in the fifth to make it a 9-2 game.

That score held until there were two out in the seventh. The Bearcats got a two-run single from Sydney Seyfert and an RBI hit from Lillie Harris, but it was too little, too late.

“I’m so happy for this whole group, especially the seniors,” Iroquois West head coach Matt Honeycutt said. “They get a chance to play in a regional championship, and they put the work in and laid the foundation. I’m just so happy for them, and the good lord willing, things will work out Friday.”

The loss for the Bearcats brought an end to the high school softball career of the Northwestern commit Lucht.

Despite already being an All-State selection in each of her first three seasons, she had a career year as a senior with a slash line of .690/.827/1.762.

Her 10 home runs were a career high by three and her OPS of 2.589 was her best by .548 points.

“Addi is a once-in-a-generation player,” head coach Alyse Morefield said. “I don’t think we’ll see a player come through Iroquois County like her again. She grinds every day, she works harder than anyone else and I know she’ll have more success in college.”

Ticketed for her fourth straight All-State softball season, Lucht is also a four-time All-State selection for volleyball and basketball at Cissna Park and will now be looking for her fourth straight All-State season in track and field at the state finals, with prelims Thursday and finals Saturday.

She will compete in the long jump, triple jump, 100 meters and shot put to wrap up what has been possibly the best preps career in area history.

“I’m certainly not happy with the outcome, and I think none of us were,” she said. “But the season as a whole, we can’t take it for granted. We had a great season.

“...I’m just going to go down [to track], give it everything I have and just enjoy my last week as a high school athlete.”