Softball: Forreston falls in 1A state semifinal

PEORIA – Dramatically coming from behind in the seventh inning of their last three games, the Forreston softball team faced its biggest obstacle yet against Casey-Westfield in the Class 1A state semifinals Friday afternoon.

Down 4-0 going into the top of the seventh inning, with the bottom of their order coming up, things looked grim for the Cardinals at the Louisville Slugger Complex in Peoria.

Ella Ingram, the hero against Biggsville West Central, drew a walk to start the seventh inning. That glimmer of hope was erased two batters later, as Breanna Kloster lined out to the shortstop and Ingram was caught off first base for the final out in the 4-0 loss.

It was the first time Forreston had been shut out all year, and relegated them to the third-place game Saturday against Newark.

“We gave it all we had,” Forreston coach Kim Snider said. “They came up with big hits and scored. We didn’t.”

With Forreston’s Kara Erdmann and Casey-Westfield’s Paige Cutright pitching masterfully in the circle, this contest featured 5 1/2 innings that were carbon copies. The only blip until the bottom of the sixth was a misplayed ball that ended up costing the Cardinals (22-5) a run in the third inning.

Neither team had a runner advance past second base, with both defenses turning nearly everything coming their way into outs. With the usually potent Casey-Westfield (38-1) struggling to hit Erdmann, the pivotal sixth inning appeared destined to go scoreless.

In the previous two innings combined, Erdmann used fewer than 10 pitches to retire the side, and had two outs and nobody on in the sixth after center fielder Jenna Greenfield made a nice catch on a well-hit ball.

“Their defense was amazing,” Casey-Westfield coach Dalton McFarland said. “They had good range and made some tough plays.”

However, Emma Mason, Casey-Westfield’s leading hitter at .577, beat out an infield single. Then Cutright helped her cause with a double into the right-center gap, driving in Mason for a 2-0 lead.

Kam Smith followed that up with a single up the middle, bringing in another run for a 3-0 advantage. The final damage came from an infield hit and throwing error that brought in the fourth run.

“One costly error [in the third inning] hurt us early. It was a momentum crusher,” Erdmann said. “The other runs, they earned.”

Erdmann, who benefitted from a wide strike zone, was only credited with two earned runs and had 75% of her pitches go for strikes.

“I’m an outside pitcher, and the strike zone was in my favor today,” said Erdmann, in her next-to-last game of a standout 4-year career for the Cardinals.

“Those will be huge shoes to fill,” Snider said. “Kara was so focused and on her game today.”

Erdmann started the game off with a walk from her leadoff position, and made it to second on a sacrifice bunt by Rylee Broshous, who had the 12th-inning walk-off homer against Pearl City in the sectional semifinal. Cutright shut down the rest of the order, and a pattern was set.

“Hat’s off to their pitcher. We left a lot of runners on,” said Snider, after the Cardinals stranded five runners on base.

In bottom of the first, Kloster, who drove in the winning runs against Dakota in the sectional final, made a running grab on a line shot to left field to save a potential run. The second was a quick 1-2-3 inning for both sides.

The tiniest player for either side, Forreston’s Alaina Miller, got on base in the third inning after a slap hit. Broshous then grounded a single up the middle, but the Warrior defense held Miller to second.

Brooke Boettner, who tied both the sectional semifinal and supersectional games with homers in the bottom of the seventh, had another chance for glory with two runners on base, but was caught looking on a 3-2 count and a scoreless tie remained.

Erdmann struck out the first two batters in the bottom of the third, but a blooper by Kennedy Repp fell between the infield and outfield on the right side.

“It was a defensive miscue, but the wind was a factor,” Snider said.

Maya Redman then drove in Repp with a hard liner into left field for the 1-0 lead.

“I knew all about the comeback wins Forreston had,” McFarland said. “Tagging on extra runs in a game like this was important.”

Boettner gave her team a boost with a leadoff single in the fourth inning, only to be stranded after three strikeouts by Cutright (28-1).

In the fifth, Miller got on base for the second time with another slap hit that was mishandled by the shortstop. She was the only player for either side to reach base every time up.

“At the beginning of the season I thought we had potential, but wasn’t quite sure,” said Miller, one of seven starters who will return next year. “My freshman year, I thought we were better. But, after we won the regional, Kara and I both looked at each other and thought maybe we have a chance after all.”

Cutright mowed down the middle of Forreston’s batting order in the sixth, though Boettner had a long foul ball to the left-field stands and Hailey Greenfield almost made it hit No. 2 with a hard shot handled by the Casey-Westfield shortstop.

In the third-place game between two newcomers to the state finals, Forreston and Newark (33-4-1) meet at 9 a.m. Saturday. Longtime powers Casey-Westfield and defending champ Glasford Illini Bluffs meet in the championship afterward.

“I’m so proud of this team,” Snider said. “It has been so much fun to make it this far, and what a road it’s been for us.”