— No stranger to success, Beecher’s Taylor Johnson knows opportunity when she sees it.
And the Wisconsin recruit knows how to capitalize.
Without a ball leaving the infield dirt, the Bobcats turned four errors, a scratch single and a walk into a four-run first inning en route to a 6-1 victory over Morrison in the Class 2A state semifinals Friday at the Eastside Centre.
“We take what we can get,” said Johnson, a senior catcher who had three of Beecher’s seven hits. “Just the resilience this group has shown getting here, it’s been pretty awesome.”
Beecher (30-7) advanced to Saturday’s 5:30 p.m. championship game against perennial power St. Joseph-Ogden (34-4), a 13-0 semifinal winner in five innings over Pinckneyville.
“That’s the way this game goes sometimes,” Beecher coach Kevin Hayhurst said of the start. “There might have been some jitters at the start, and we were able to take advantage.
“We knew how good their pitcher was, and you don’t how good it felt putting up (four runs) on the board like that.”
Although Morrison ace Lauren Rice (21-2) added to her glossy regular-season stats with five strikeouts, her team’s defense proved to be her undoing. Rice entered with 204 strikeouts in 141 innings.
Three different infielders made errors on ground balls to start the game for Morrison (22-3) and a 2-0 deficit quickly doubled on Rice’s throwing error.
“Things happen,” Morrison coach Tammy Deter said with a shrug. “That (first inning) hurt, but I was proud of the way our kids settled down and played good ball after that.”
Beecher added a run in the third when Johnson singled, stole second, and scored on a two-out, line single to left by Chandler Claus.
Margaret Landis, Johnson and Jessica Lee opened the fifth with consecutive singles to account for the final run.
Meanwhile, sophomore right-hander Kayla Hon (16-3) struck out four and scattered seven hits and a walk for the Bobcats.
Hon gave up a solo home run in the second inning to first baseman Brooke Stralow, but the Fillies could only get one other runner as far as second base despite going down in order only once.
“We’re a pretty versatile bunch,” Hayhurst said. “We can bunt and slap and beat you with our speed or we can drive the ball deep, too. It’s a pretty good mix.”
This is Beecher’s fifth state appearance since 2004 under Hayhurst, including winning Class A state titles in 2004 and 2007. Ironically, Beecher blanked Morrison 2-0 in the 2007 semifinals.
An omen, perhaps?
“That’s what I’m hoping,” Hayhurst said, smiling.
Jim Haas is a freelance writer for the Daily Southtown.
