Winds of fate turn against Antioch in state semifinals
EAST PEORIA - With the wind blowing in Friday at the EastSide Centre diamond, the conditions were not exactly favoring Antioch's home run power in the Class 3A state softball semifinal.
But the Sequoits battled Metamora to the final out before falling 2-1 on a passed ball with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning.
"It (the wind) definitely affected us " said shortstop Allie Anttila, who belted a team-high 12 of Antioch's state record-tying 48 homers this season. "Some of our deep flies might have made a difference.
"We still didn't have the right hits at the right times. We should have adjusted and tried to hit more line drives. But anything can happen here."
"There were three of four balls that might have gone off the fence," said second-year Antioch coach Jeff Tylka. "Allie's first one (a fly out to left in the fourth) might have gone over. Their pitcher (Jodi Rebholz, who is 28-1) did a nice job of keeping the ball up in the zone."
The Sequoits (31-7) will play Breese Mater Dei (24-12) for third place at 9:30 a.m. today. Metamora (39-1) will face Trinity (35-5) for the championship immediately following.
"Only two teams can end their season with a win in Class 3A," Tylka said. "That's what we've challenged the girls with. We'll see what they can do."
"It's unfortunate we couldn't win, we worked real hard to get here," said Antioch junior pitcher Olivia Duehr, who will be teammates with Buffalo Grove junior Andrea DiPrima at Northwestern in two years. "But we can still do something for our program. Third place would be awesome. That's still an option. We won't just settle for fourth."
The Sequoits got on the board first Friday when Cat Dinklenburg drew a two-out walk in the top of the fifth. Jessica Ploss then singled to right and Dinklenburg was able to make it all the way home on an error on the play.
Metamora got on the board in the bottom of the sixth when No. 8 hitter Morgan Obery led off with a double to left field and later came home on a two-out outfield error.
Metamora still had a runner on second when Duehr escaped further damage with a strikeout.
Metamora took advantage of 2 errors in the bottom of the seventh to win it.
Molly Cull reached on an infield error to start the inning, took second on Paige Garber's sacrifice bunt, went to third on an infield error and came home on what was officially called a passed ball.
"We had some tough errors the last inning," Tylka said. "The first one in the seventh ws a tough hop, the second one was a tough play. The last pitch just kid of got away. We kind of gave them both runs."
Duehr (20-6) finished with a 3-hitter and 3 strikeouts. She did not give up an earned run.
"Olivia did a real nice job," Tylka said. "She was moving her pitches well and her change-up worked quite well."
The Sequoits, who also received a leadoff single by Jess Liszka in the fourth inning, just didn't produce enough offense.
"In my two seasons, when we've scored 4 or more runs, we are 52-1 (the lone exception was a loss to Barrington)," Tylka said. "When we score 3 or less, we are 16-8.
"I'll just remember how well this team got along. We have 17 girls and whatever five you put together, they'll all get along."
After Saturday's third-place game, the Sequoits will return home. A gathering for the players is planned for about 4:30 p.m. at Anastacia's Restaurant on Main Street for anyone who would like to congratulate the players on Antioch's first trip to the state softball finals in school history.