La Salle-Peru catcher Makenzie Chamberlain caught the pitch, the umpire’s right arm shot up and Chamberlain leapt up with her arms in the air before jogging out to wrap pitcher Taylor Vescogni in a big hug.

The infield rushed in and the Cavaliers poured out of the dugout.

L-P coach Randy Huebbe was emotional as he took in a scene 13 years in the making.

Vescogni’s 12th strikeout capped off No. 4-seeded L-P’s 3-0 upset over No. 1 Sycamore in the Class 3A Sterling Regional championship Friday, giving the Cavs their first regional title since 2013.

“It hasn’t sunk in yet,” Huebbe said after winning his first regional plaque since taking over as L-P’s head coach in 2017. “On that last out, I actually had tears in my eyes.”

The Cavs have been knocking on the door for years, losing in regional finals the last six years with four of those losses coming by two runs or less.

“It’s so incredible after being on the field in a regional championship for the last three years,” Vescogni said. “It’s so relieving to finally get the win.”

The regional title comes at the end of an up and down season for the Cavs, who started 1-6, went 4-6 in Interstate 8 Conference play and had a late four-game losing streak before winning seven of their last nine to end the regular season.

“We had a really good run last year, but we couldn’t come up with a regional title,” Vescogni said. “This year we didn’t have the best start, but I feel like that kind of motivated us. Coach Huebbe always says the regular season doesn’t matter, what matters is the postseason. We started getting it all together at the end of the regular season. We started simplifying our swings, made a couple changes on defense and I feel like it finally clicked this game.”

Sycamore ends the season 24-6. The Spartans, who won the Interstate 8 with a 9-1 record, had a string of three consecutive regional titles snapped.

“Anything can happen in the postseason,” Sycamore coach Jill Carpenter said. “If we’re going to go down, I want it to be to a conference foe. They played well and they deserved it. With the year we had, it’s a tough way to end. We played pretty clean defensively. Bella (Jacobs) kept us in the game. We just have to do more on offense.

“I’m sad for my group, but it was a great year. I’m not just going to focus on the end, that would be a disservice to them and the year they put together. They won one of the toughest conferences in the state. We beat a bunch of really solid top 20 programs. We beat a ton of DI pitchers. The schedule was stacked and they rose to every challenge.”

On top of ending a long regional drought, Friday’s win sends the Cavaliers (22-14) back home for the La Salle-Peru Sectional where they will play East Peoria at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the L-P Sports Complex.

East Peoria advanced with a 4-3 win over Metamora in the Streator Regional final.

“It’s so great, especially for our seniors,” Vescogni said. “We have a couple of us who have played on varsity all four years, so to play at home - and hopefully go to state after that - and to have our community there to support us is going to be so good.”

Vescogni played a key role in sending L-P home as she struck out the first eight Sycamore batters she faced, allowed just one infield single on a short, low pop up by No. 9 hitter Leah Harbecke that landed between Chamberlain and Vescogni and did not walk anyone.

“On the way here, I was so nervous,” Vescogni said. “Honestly, I feel like I pitch my best when I’m nervous. I came out really hot. My body was super fast and that helps my spin. To have those strikeouts at the beginning of the game and starting off on a good note, I feel like that really gave me confidence.”

L-P’s ace also came in with a solid game plan against a familiar opponent.

“I had a pitching lesson (Thursday) and we went through our game plan about what we were going to throw to what hitters, where to throw the rise ball and to kind of jam them a little bit,” Vescogni said.

The Cavs gave Vescogni early run support with two runs in the second inning.

Chamberlain led off with a walk and Vescogni ripped a double to the left field fence to put runners on second and third with one out.

With two outs, No. 9 hitter Addie Piecha delivered a two-run single to right center field.

“That felt really great,” Piecha said. “I set a goal for myself and I made it happen.

“We worked really hard in practice and we really focused on the pitcher and how she threw.”

Piecha came through again in the seventh.

With a runner on first and one out, Piecha hit a double into the left-center field gap to give the Cavs an insurance run.

“We brought her up halfway through the season and she’s not stopped hitting,” Huebbe said. “She hits it so well. The ball comes off her bat really well. I’m proud of her.”