The first-ever trip to state for the Gardner-South Wilmington softball team got off to about as wild a start as possible in Thursday’s IHSA Class 1A state semifinals at the Louisville Slugger Sports Complex in Peoria.

In a game that lasted nearly three hours and spanned 10 innings, the Panthers (27-12) came up just short against Waltonville (33-6) in a 2-1 thriller, with G-SW senior Maddie Simms and Waltonville junior Elyssa Schoenbaechler both going the distance for their teams with a trip to the championship game on the line.

After each team scored in the first inning, the pair of aces put up zero after zero before the Spartans finally broke through with a single by Annie Wangler, a steal by pinch-runner Kadence Fourez, a sacrifice bunt from Emma Long and a perfect sacrifice squeeze down the first base line by Ashyln Kluck in the top of the 10th.

Waltonville will play Dakota for a state title Saturday at 10 a.m. while G-SW will play Okawville for third place Friday at 10:15 a.m.

Simms allowed just five hits with eight strikeouts in her 10 innings of work, and despite the loss, she said playing in a game like that is something she doesn’t want to take for granted.

“It means everything to just be here,” she said. “I still can’t believe it. This morning we were all kind of like ‘pinch me.’ Just to be here is crazy, and to play a game like that is even crazier. We said last week, ‘as long as we get here we don’t care what happens,’ but today we battled as hard as we could.”

Simms has worked all 47 innings for the Panthers this postseason, allowing 21 hits and five earned runs with 67 strikeouts.

Head coach Matt Finn said Simms is exactly the kind of pitcher you want in the circle this time of year.

“She gets in that circle and she’s a lion out there,” he said. “She wants the ball, she wants to go after every hitter. It doesn’t matter if they’re going to NC State or a junior college, she wants to go after them. She battled hard, and our defense played great behind her again.”

Waltonville’s Briley Williams led off the game with a triple Thursday and soon slid home safely under a tag from G-SW catcher Kayla Scheuber on a squeeze bunt from Addi Stanley.

The Panthers tied things up in the bottom of the first after Simms singled, reached third on an error and courtesy runner Kaylee Tousignant came in to score on a two-out error.

That would be the last run for well over two hours until the Spartans’ small-ball rally in the top of the 10th.

In the bottom of that inning, a single from Nina Siano and a walk to Simms saw G-SW with the winning run on base with no outs.

But a soft liner off the bat of Brynn Christensen was caught by Williams between the first-base bag and Simms, leaving the Panther pitcher stranded for a tag and easy double play.

Schoenbaechler induced a groundout to second after that to end the game.

“Sometimes you think a seven-inning game is long enough, but playing a 10-inning game was so long, and playing a game that close, too,” Schoenbaechler said. “Both teams, we worked our butts off. It was a fun 10-inning game, and we never through we’d play a 10-inning game. But we did.”

While G-SW’s hopes for the first state title in school history are gone, Finn said this team has done more than enough to make their mark.

“When you get to the state tournament, just two teams end their season, and some players’ careers (with wins) – the champion and third place,” he said. “We want to keep our head up and play hard. Win or lose, we’ve got some hardware and we’ve got three nice plaques that are going to be at G-SW forever.”

For Simms and her fellow seniors Scheuber, Nina Siano, Bree Stein and Bella Dinelli, this postseason run has extended their high school days nearly three weeks after graduation.

Simms said being able to play one more game with this team is all she can ask for.

“That’s the most exciting part, that I get to drag out my high school career as long as I can, and do it with some of my best friends,” she said. “I can’t even explain how fun it is in the dugout. We’re all going back to a hotel, and we’re excited just to get to stay in a hotel.

“...Getting to have this extra time is everything for us.”