Providence Catholic cruises into IHSA Class 3A state championship game

PEORIA – In its previous two postseason games, the Providence Catholic softball team had to go to extra innings.

Friday, in the state semifinals, the Celtics decided they would try something different. And, like everything else in the postseason, it went the way they wanted. They came away with a 5-2 win over St. Laurence and advanced to a state championship game for the first time in program history.

The Celtics will play at 11 a.m. Saturday for the state championship at Louisville Slugger Sports Complex against Chatham Glenwood.

Providence reached the tournament by winning the Class 3A sectional championship 1-0 over Lemont in 10 innings and the supersectional 5-4 over Pontiac in nine innings.

After being the home team in their previous two games, the Celtics were the visitors Friday. They took advantage of having the first chance to bat and scored a run in the top of the first. Bella Olszta reached on a dropped pop-up, then stole second. An out later, Angelina Cole grounded to short, but the throw to first was high and allowed Olszta to come around and score and Cole to reach second. However, the promising inning ended when Cole tried to advance to third on a grounder to short by Mia Sanfratello and was thrown out at third.

Although St. Laurence, which split the two Girls Catholic Athletic Conference games with Providence in the regular season, scored in the bottom of the first on a passed ball, the run in the top half of the inning set the tone.

“It was great to get out in front,” said Cole, who went 2 for 3 with a double, RBI and run scored. “We knew with hitting first that we had to start quick. We were all ready to play today.

“We still had the one loss against them in our minds, and we were focused and ready.”

With the game tied at 1, Providence (26-11) took control in the top of the third. With one out, Bella Cortes singled, then went to second when a pickoff attempt from the catcher got away. Cole then slammed a double off the base of the center field fence to score Cortes, and Cole scored on a single to right by Mia Sanfratello. The ball scooted past the St. Laurence right fielder, and Sanfratello raced all the way to third. Ava Misch followed with a grounder to short that brought home Sanfratello for a 4-1 lead.

“On the double, I just got a pitch down the middle,” Cole said. “[St. Laurence pitcher Maddie Misch] is my teammate in travel. I knew she would pitch me outside, so I just waited until she got one closer to the middle and turned on it.

“Going up by three really helped us to just be relaxed and play.”

Providence pitcher Macie Robbins, one of three freshmen in the starting lineup, allowed just three hits and struck out four. She retired the final nine batters she faced after allowing a leadoff double in the bottom of the fifth.

“Macie really gets stronger as the game goes on,” Providence coach Jim Holba said. “She starts to loosen up and let it fly. And her being able to limit them to only one run when they had runners on was big.

“Having the lead was definitely less stressful. Getting that run in the first inning helped calm our nerves and made our girls pretty confident after seeing St. Laurence twice already this year.”

Providence added an insurance run in the top of the sixth. With two outs, Ella Kucala, the lone senior in the starting lineup and one of only two on the roster, tripled to left – running through Holba’s stop sign at second – and Olszta followed with a double to left to score Kucala.

“The play was in front of me and I knew I could make it to third,” Kucala said about running through the stop sign. “Coach Holba didn’t say anything to me when I got to third. I had my adrenaline going and knew I could make it.

“It feels so good to be a part of this team that is going to place the best in school history. Even though there are only two seniors - me and Abbey Gaus have played together since we were eight - it doesn’t feel like there’s a big age difference. Everyone gets along well and we all just want to go out there and win.”

Holba liked to see Kucala’s aggressiveness.

“We tell the girls that if they can see the play, their own eyes and feet will tell them what to do better than I can,” he said. “We want to be aggressive and make the other team make plays.

“We had a lot of nice, relaxed at-bats today, and that showed by us having 10 hits. It was nice to see Angelina Cole come up and do what she has done all year, and this was also one of our best defensive games of the year. I told the girls that the hard part is getting here. Once we are here, we get to play the game and stay loose and focused.”