In addition to Lincoln-Way West softball’s historic state championship, it was a busy postseason weekend across the Herald-News coverage area.

Here are a few of those top stories in our Weekend Rewind, with full reports available at www.shawlocal.com/the-herald-news.

Minooka crushes Edwardsville for sectional crown

Minooka‘s baseball team continued to run roughshod through the postseason on Saturday, notching a 15-1 victory over powerhouse Edwardsville in the Class 4A Normal Community Sectional final at the Corn Crib to advance to a supersectional showdown with Naperville Central.

In the postseason, Minooka has outscored its opponents 46-7 in four games.

“We’re just going out there and having some fun. We’re not trying to overcomplicate things,” said Rhett Harris, whose first-inning home run Saturday propelled Minooka to victory. “We’re all feeding off one another. It’s really easy when you get into these big games to get super stiff and serious about things, but we just need to keep playing the game the way it needs to be played.”

Tyler Ebel added a three-hit day, Harris a second home run, and Brady Kozlowski a homer of his own in support of winning pitcher Cam Rujawitz.

L-W West’s state-title weekend started with an upset

A day before they closed out the Class 4A state championship, the Lincoln-Way West softball team made believers out of top-ranked Marist and the rest of the state Friday with a 2-1 win over the top-ranked RedHawks that boosted the Warriors into the state championship game for the first time in school history.

L-W West pitcher Abby Brueggmann was masterful, scattering eight hits and striking out four, including Marist cleanup hitter Soleil Tate with a runner on third to end the semifinal.

“I honestly didn’t think I would hold them to one run before the game started,” Brueggmann said. “But we were playing very loose. I figured the longer we could stay in it, the better chance we would have, so getting that lead early was huge.

“I would say that my mindset was the thing that worked best for me today. I just knew I didn’t want to walk any batters. I wanted to make them earn it.”

Reese Rourke scored the Warriors’ first run on a double steal, with Reese Forsythe tripling and scoring the other on a Paige Seivert sacrifice fly.

Seneca softball falls in 2A title game

Seneca, which only had two baserunners through five innings against Carterville senior pitcher and University of Illinois commit Caidence Phillips, was able to put four runners in scoring position in the final two frames and got one run back in the seventh, but eventually fell 3-1 to finish state runner-up in Class 2A to cap a record-breaking season.

“This team battled to the very end,” Seneca coach Brian Holman said. “Against Beecher [in the sectional final], we were down and came back. Against IC Catholic on Thursday, we were down and battled back. And today, we found ways in the final two innings to bring the tying run up to the plate a couple times. We were a hit away a couple times today, but we just weren’t able to get it.”

In other action ...

Wilmington baseball had its season ended in the Class 2A Herscher Sectional with an 11-2 loss to Marquette Academy, the Class 1A state champion in both 2025 and 2024. The Wildcats answered Marquette’s two-run top of the first with two runs in the bottom half, but were outscored 9-0 from there. “It’s a tight-knit group, and they made life easy for us all year,” Wilmington coach Mike Bushnell said. “They do all the little things, and looking back, these guys made a lot of lifelong memories together.” ... Lincoln-Way Central, the Cinderella of the Class 4A baseball bracket, fell 7-1 to Sandburg in the championship game of the 4A Lincoln-Way Central Sectional. “What I’ll remember most about this season is just being with the guys all year,” L-W Central senior Luke Tingley said. “We had a great run, really showed up in the playoffs and were the last Lincoln-Way school standing, which does feel good.” ... The Lemont girls soccer team finished fourth at the IHSA Class 2A State Finals in Naperville, falling 5-0 in the semifinals to eventual state champion Crystal Lake Central ahead of Saturday’s 1-0 loss to St. Francis in the third-place match.