St. Edward, Hampshire have high hopes entering postseason
Here we go again.
Just as it used to be easy to look at the postseason pairings in volleyball and basketball, it was also easy to look at the IHSA softball state tournament and kind of figure, barring upsets, who might make it into sectional finals, supersectionals and even Downstate.
No more. With the advent of the 4-class system, predicting who might end up playing in East Peoria in a few short weeks is a crapshoot at best.
Class 1A and 2A regionals kick off next week with 3A and 4A moving into the postseason the following week.
In Class 2A, St. Edward and Hampshire both stand poised to win regional titles, if seeds hold. The Green Wave and Whip-Purs have been assigned to the same sectional, which curiously doesn't have a host yet, and there's a chance they could meet in a sectional final.
There's work to be done for both long before that would happen, though. St. Edward is the No. 1 seed in the Driscoll regional and Hampshire, the No. 2 seed of the sub-sectional, is the top seed in the Walther Lutheran regional.
"We've been saying all along we want to be playing our best ball at the end of the season," said first-year St. Edward coach Mike Rolando, whose team was 12-11 through Wednesday. "We've only lost to one Class 2A team all season (Genoa-Kingston) and I feel like we're peaking at the right time."
The Green Wave has been led all year by the senior leadership of shortstop Kelly Knott (.431, 5 triples), Megan Pozezinski and Erin McGraw. Pozezinski, who struggled at the plate early, has heated up in the last two weeks and helped the Wave to wins in 3 of their last 4 games after a 4-game losing streak.
"Poz's bat is really heating up right now and we're getting multiple hits and timely hits from a lot of players," said Rolando. "The 7-8-9 hitters are coming through and it can be anybody getting hot on any given day."
Sophomore Kristi Knott (.305) has come on strong lately while sophomore Kristina Brockner and freshman Lea Diaz have been consistent all season.
In the circle, Rolando has choices. McGraw has been solid recently and sports a 1.59 ERA while freshman Sarah Field has been consistent all year and is at 6-5 with a 1.96 ERA.
"Our pitching keeps us in games, Rolando said. "They throw strikes and let the defense work for them."
St. Edward will open regional play on Tuesday against the winner of Monday's play-in game between Woodlands Academy and Luther North. Fourth seed Driscoll would be the Wave's likely regional final opponent. St. Edward has downed Driscoll twice this season, 9-3 and 5-4. The Wave are after the fourth regional title in program history and first since 2005.
"I like where we're at right now, but we just have to take one game at a time," Rolando said. "The girls are feeling confident and it's great to have the senior leadership we do."
Hampshire, meanwhile, also enters the postseason with confidence. The Whip-Purs were 14-10 through Wednesday and second-year coach Ken Bram says his team is looking forward to the postseason.
"We're ready to go," Bram said. "It's been a good season; much better than last year.
The Whips, who open the Walther Lutheran regional on Tuesday against either Francis Parker or St. Benedict, have been led all season by junior Magen Roadcap, a shortstop who transferred from Pennsylvania and is hitting .421 with 19 RBI for the Whips this season. Jessica Krause (.343, 5 HRs, 25 RBI), Ally Kent (.393), Jordan Moore (.317, 16 RBI) and Tegan Singleton (.286, 19 RBI) have also been solid contributors. In the circle, Singleton (2.05 ERA) has 5 wins while Kent (2.56) and Katlyn McBride (2.16) each have 4.
Bram says defense will be the key to the Whips' success in the postseason.
"Our one downfall has been the bad inning," he said. "We've had some games where we're right there against good teams and then we have a bad inning of errors."
In Class 1A, No. 6 seed Westminster Christian (6-14) will host a regional play-in game against No. 7 Paw Paw on Monday, with the winner traveling to Newark to face top seed Earlville on Tuesday.
Westminster, in its first season of softball, has been led offensively this season by freshman Katie Moeller (.393, 14 RBI, junior Sarah Serrato (.351, 12 RBI) and freshman Julia Engen (.322, 17 RBI).
Good games: Red-hot Jacobs, 19-2 through Wednesday, will play four games Saturday at the Harlem Invitational at the SportsCore in Rockford. The Golden Eagles open against Rockford Guilford but then, at 10:15 a.m., will play one of the top Class 3A teams in the state in Rock Island Alleman. Belvidere North and Deerfield will be Jacobs' other opponents Saturday.