After Beecher‘s two-out rally in the seventh inning gave the Bobcats their first lead of the Class 2A Pontiac Sectional championship against Seneca and with Beecher ace Taylor Norkus fully locked in after a couple of early home runs, it certainly appeared as if the Bobcats were on their way to a one-run sectional title win over the Fighting Irish for the third straight year.

And while it was indeed a one-run final, this time it was Seneca that emerged.

After Brynlee Hunt scored on a throwing error that sent Marlie Lissy to third base, junior shortstop Emma Mino delivered a walk-off single that scored Lissy for a 6-5 Seneca win that gives the Fighting Irish their first sectional championship in school history.

“I kind of blanked out,” Mino said of the moments that immediately followed her line shot to left-center field. “I wasn’t really thinking anything. I got my job done, did what I needed to do.”

Seneca (37-2) will look to keep its best-ever season alive when it takes on Brimfield at 4:30 p.m. Monday in the East Peoria Supersectional. Beecher, the defending Class 2A state champs, finished the season 32-1 and saw a 41-game winning streak that dated back more than a calendar year come to an end.

The Fighting Irish led after every half inning except for the middle of the seventh, with Camryn Stecken driving Graysen Provance in with a first-inning RBI single to set the tone.

Freshman Ameliah Weber doubled the Seneca lead to 2-0 with a second-inning home run and Hayden Pfeifer again doubled the lead to 4-0 when she sent a moon shot to right center for a two-run homer that had the Irish in firm control at 4-0 through three.

Pfeifer also pitched all seven innings, allowing four earned runs on 10 hits and 11 strikeouts. Even as the junior went back to the circle with that comfortable cushion, she kept the advice from her longtime hitting coach Tom Morris in mind.

“His go-to is ‘Show them who you are. Prove yourself,’ ” Pfeifer said. “I keep myself confident. The sooner you let yourself go down, the harder it is to get yourself back up.”

That was even evident as Pfeifer and her teammates saw the Bobcats stun them in the top of the seventh. The junior Illinois State commit quickly retired the first two batters of the inning before what looked like a signature Beecher win unfolded late.

Elena Kvasnicka, Grace Wuest and Allie Johnson notched three straight hits, the latter of which drove in Kvasnicka, followed by Liliana Irwin’s single that packed the bags for Karsyn Kasput.

After getting the Bobcats on the board an inning prior with an RBI single, the freshman left fielder smoked a bases-clearing double to give the Bobcats their first lead of the game and put the Bobcats three outs away from their fourth straight sectional title.

But the Irish had other plans. Weber singled to open the inning before Lissy’s sacrifice bunt attempt became a Beecher error that put a pair of Seneca freshmen on base with nobody out. Aurora Weber’s sacrifice bunt attempt went as a pop out to Wuest at third.

Provance grounded out to Kvasnicka, advancing both runners. Hunt, who was pinch running for Ameliah Weber, took an aggressive round past third, drawing a late throw in attempt to nab her diving back. But that throw went to the fence, allowing Hunt to score and moving Lissy to third.

And with a full count, Mino delivered the most celebratory hit in Seneca softball history.

“I try to make them as confident as they can be with some of the stuff we do,” Seneca coach Brian Holman said. “Sometimes that looks like yelling, sometimes that looks like long practices, but when you’re down one in the bottom of the seventh against the defending state champions with seven, eight, nine up, you have that ultimate confidence that no matter what we’re going to fight through this.

“We started with two freshmen down there, rolled it to the top and Emma’s been our best for about two years now. If we need a big situation like that you want the bat in her hands. Proud is the word to describe what we went through there.”

Mino and Ameliah Weber had two hits, a run and an RBI apiece to account for half of the hits Norkus allowed in her final prep start. The Colgate signee allowed four earned runs on eight hits and struck out six in a complete game.

Following the home run to Pfeifer, Norkus settled in to retire 10 straight batters and seemed to get better as the game went on, which is what Beecher coach Kevin Hayhurst has come to expect.

“I think she realized she had to bow her neck a bit,” Hayhurst said. “She was hitting corners, moving it in and out. That last hitter did a really nice job of pulling her hands in. We threw her outside, outside, outside and hit the corner, then we threw one inside and she got it.”

Kasput drove in four as part of her 2 for 4 day. Kvasnicka and Wuest were also 2 for 4, with Kvasnicka scoring twice and Wuest once. Allie Johnson went 3 for 4 and drove in a run.

Although they fell short of a third straight state appearance, Hayhurst knows his five-deep senior class of Norkus, Kvasnicka, Makenzie Johnson, Liliana Irwin and Mia Chavez are graduating as an unforgettable class that won a state title, got to state twice, won three sectionals and four regionals.

“They’re winners,” Hayhurst said. “They’re great examples for the young kids. Their work ethic and attitude to the sport is second to none. They’re going to be sorely missed mentally as well as physically.”