Softball: Geneva clinches 1st conference crown
Annika Radabaugh gave the Geneva softball team its first conference championship in dramatic fashion Friday, hitting a 2-run walk-off home run in the bottom of the seventh inning for a 6-4 win over St. Charles East.
The Vikings (25-2, 14-0) won their 23rd straight game and sealed their first title by beating the Saints (24-6, 12-4), another No. 1 sectional seed like the Vikings, the runner-up in the UEC River - and a recent nemesis that has played a part in Geneva not winning a conference title sooner.
"I have been waiting for a conference title for four years and I have just been begging for it," Radabaugh said. "I'm ecstatic. It feels fantastic.
"I've not only been hoping for a conference title, my past three years we've never beaten East. I wanted that so badly. We got them the first time, I wanted the second time. It feels so good to come out on top."
Radabaugh is a 4-year varsity stalwart who has been working for and waiting a long time for the title. Then again, there's plenty of former players and coaches who have been waiting a lot longer - like coach Greg Dierks in his 28th season.
"We've won a few regionals but to finish my coaching time without having gotten one of these would have been hard to deal with in a way," Dierks said. "I don't think we've been underachievers in any way. But I think this is the first group we've had that has a combination of the talent and the leadership and the maturity. They were ready. They were absolutely ready to do this."
The Saints made Geneva work for the championship, overcoming 2-0 and 4-1 deficits to tie the game 4-4 with a 3-run rally in the sixth.
Maddy Stout delivered the big blow, a 2-run double high off the center field fence that scored Jordan Hieber and Paige Ligocki. The Saints then made it 4-4 when the Vikings threw away a dribbler off the bat of Hannah Cozzi.
But Radabaugh had the answer in the seventh, following a 1-out single by another 4-year starter, Molly Wrenn, with a dramatic homer far over the center field fence to set off a jubilant scene - both at home plate and in the Geneva stands behind.
"It's one of those where we felt we had done a pretty nice job against her," Saints coach Jarod Gutesha said. "We knew going into that at-bat she was a threat and we fell behind a little bit. She got a good pitch to hit and did a nice job with it."
Geneva jumped on the Saints quickly, taking a 1-0 lead when Katie Keller homered on the fourth pitch of the inning. Radabaugh made it 2-0 with an RBI single to score Kaitlyn Plocinski, who also had singled.
The Saints got a run back in the third on Hieber's RBI single. Geneva loaded the bases with nobody out in the third and scored twice on RBI from Alyssa Kramer and Ali Dierks.
Geneva was up 4-1 at that point before things got tense late.
"It would have been a lot more relaxing to cruise through with the win," Greg Dierks said. "I think the fact we got punched in the face late in the game will do us some good. I think that will pay off in the postseason when we have a few tough moments."
Emily Viebrock stayed unbeaten for Geneva while Devor took the loss for the Saints.
"Our kids are playing very well," Gutesha said. "Delaney threw the ball well. They fought. They didn't collapse. It's tough to lose that one but hats off to Geneva. It was a good game between two No. 1 seeds."