Few teams ever have had a wilder ride to the state tournament than Tom Wooden’s Dunlap Eagles.
This week Dunlap had to wait through three consecutive rainouts of its date with Coal City in the Bishop McNamara sectional final. Had the weather not been cooperative enough for the Eagles to defeat Coal City on Thursday, a simple coin flip would have determined their fate.
It’s no wonder Dunlap entered Springfield’s Lanphier Park for its Class A quarterfinal with Eldorado with many pairs of sagging eyes.
“We’ve had a lot of peaks and valleys,” Wooden said. “We are very, very tired.”
That fatigue doomed Dunlap Friday. After taking advantage of Eldorado fielding errors for a 3-0 lead in the second, the Eagles’ energy finally dried up as they lost 4-3.
“Not to take anything away from [Eldorado], but we ran out of gas,” Wooden said. “We’ve been in hotels the last two nights.”
Justin McKinney led Eldorado with an RBI single in the second and a two-run homer in the fourth that gave his team the lead for good. James Potter struck out five and didn’t walk a batter to improve to 12-1. Eldorado (24-7) faces Pleasant Plains in the second semifinal Saturday .
Pleasant Plains 4, Mendota 3: Joe Albsmeyer’s two-run single in the fifth was the final blow in erasing a 3-0 deficit. Dusty Bensko and Aaron Sczurko also had RBI singles for Pleasant Plains (35-5), while winning pitcher Matt Clark struck out six. Eric Pinter drove in two runs for Mendota (23-16).
Teutopolis 10, Stanford Olympia 3: Josh Althoff went 3 for 3 with three RBIs and Mitch Koester was 2 for 3 with two runs scored and two driven in to lead the Wooden Shoes (36-3) into a semifinal date with Driscoll. Mitch Pruemer (12-0) allowed only one earned run. Brandon Gale and Brian Ahlers each drove in runs for Olympia (36-3-1).
— Pat Rooney
Softball quarterfinals
Amy Sinclair’s fourth-inning sacrifice fly was all defending champion Casey-Westfield (37-1) needed to slip past Stanford Olympia 1-0 at Pekin’s Mineral Springs Park. Casey will face Pinckneyville (36-2) in Saturday’s semifinals.
“I think we’ve surprised a lot of people who didn’t think Casey would be as good after coach [Denny] Throneburg retired last year,” said Melissa Hickox, who scored on the sacrifice fly. “But none of us players has changed our frame of mind.”
Casey sophomore Lora Fisher (20-0) blanked Olympia on four hits, three by leadoff batter Tricia Gaither. Gaither led off the game with a triple but was stranded after a popup and two strikeouts.
“We only had three starters back from last year’s state championship team, and this is a team of 17 good kids but no superstars,” said Casey coach Dave Shawver. “I’ve had more confidence in them than in my coaching ability.”
Illini Bluffs 1, Johnston City 0: Melissa Koenig (28-2) fired a two-hitter as Illini Bluffs (32-2) eliminated Johnston City (31-4). Koenig didn’t give up a hit until the fifth and never allowed a runner past second base.
Rock Island Alleman 3, Williamsville 0: Pitching with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee, KarenMarie Pena threw a two-hitter to beat Williamsville (33-6). Pena is scheduled to have surgery Thursday.
Mindy Smith ignited a sixth-inning outburst for Alleman (29-6) with a leadoff single. Two bunts, an error and a sacrifice fly produced the three runs.
— Bob Sakamoto
