An emotional postseason for Carmel Catholic's softball team

On the eve of their latest "biggest game of the year," Carmel Catholic's softball girls received upsetting news.

Momentum had changed.

The cousin of Corsairs head coach Shane Schueneman had just lost his biggest fight. Mark Walker, just 42, succumbed to cancer Monday night, just hours after Carmel's 6-4 win over Antioch in the Class 3A Wauconda sectional final.

Claire Petrus said she and her teammates never met him. But in the middle of season, the Corsairs learned of "Schu's cousin" and about his cancer, which was terminal.

So following word of Walker's passing, like any good captain would do, Petrus took action. The senior pitcher pitched an idea to fellow captain Amanda Elert.

"Claire texted me," Elert said. "I thought, 'What a great idea.' "

"We told Amanda to bring some Sharpies," Petrus said. "I thought we should dedicate this (supersectional) game to (Schueneman's cousin)."

So while at Subway for a pregame meal en route to Hampshire on Tuesday to play Sterling in the supersectional, Elert pulled out black Sharpies, and the girls got busy coloring. They wrote "MW" on their arms.

Showing support for their softball family is what Carmel's girls do. Late last season, after teammate Lauren Caffarelli banged her head in a collision in the outfield and suffered a season-ending concussion, the Corsairs wrote "C4" (Caffarelli, No. 4) on their arms.

Tuesday was about Coach "Schu" and his cousin. Schueneman said little to his players, who went out and beat Sterling 5-4. Afterward, as his players celebrated and took picture after picture in the infield, posing with their championship trophy, Schueneman focused only on his team's performance. When the discussion turned to his cousin, he suddenly became too emotional to talk.

"He's a man of few words," Elert said. "I think it meant a lot to him, and I think this win meant even more.

"It gave us a little bit more fire, a little bit more reason to play harder today."

At game's end, the Corsairs met in shallow left field. They were still smiling about their win that earned the program its first berth downstate. They were still aware of the big picture.

"We prayed," Petrus said. "We said 'Our Father,' and then Amanda said we really think Schu's cousin was watching over us and helped us through this."

Finding strength during tough times is what it's all about it. When the Corsairs went down 1-0 after a half inning, when Sterling scored twice in the fourth to pull even, when the opponent went ahead with a leadoff homer in the fifth, they stayed calm.

Life is too short, sometimes. Freshman Jordan Swiatkowski certainly didn't panic. The 15-year-old slugged a 2-run, go-ahead homer in the bottom of the fifth after falling behind 2 strikes.

Hello, East Peoria.

"It's amazing," said Schueneman, whose Corsairs play Montini at 9 a.m. Friday in a state semifinal at Eastside Centre in East Peoria. "That was our goal at the beginning of the year. We had one goal, (but) I wouldn't let the kids talk about it."

With these girls, their actions speak louder.

jaguilar@dailyherald.com

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