They had no secrets.
Southwest Prairie Conference rivals Yorkville and Minooka met for the third time this season Monday in a Class 4A supersectional at Illinois State University in Normal.
This time, though, a berth in the state semifinals in Peoria was at stake. Minooka pulled off the upset with a 5-1 decision.
The Indians (16-13) had a 10-day layoff at midseason due to COVID-19 protocols and were seeded sixth in their half of the sectional.
They utilized a successful small ball attack against Yorkville (24-5), took advantage of four wild pitches and checked the usual strong timely hitting of the Foxes, who were seeded first in their sectional.
“Seeds don’t matter in the postseason,” Yorkville coach Jory Regnier said. “We don’t take anyone lightly. We knew what happened in the previous games and prepared as hard as we have for every other game.”
The teams split those earlier games, each team winning with a walk-off home run — Yorkville 2-1 on Ellie Alvarez’s blast and Minooka 6-5 in eight innings on Chloe Kornhorst’s two-run homer.
It also was the third time each had seen the other team’s starting pitcher, Yorkville sophomore Madi Reeves and Minooka senior Allie Timm.
“I don’t think they could hit Madi, so they just bunted it,” Alvarez said. “Most of their hits were bunts and we didn’t defend as we should have. I think that was the big difference.”
Yorkville struggled at the plate from the outset in its first supersectional appearance.
Mackenzie Melzer led off with a double over the right fielder’s head but was cut down trying to steal third when Kaitlyn Roberts missed on a bunt attempt.
Roberts followed with a single but was forced at second by the center fielder after a line drive by Alvarez barely cleared Minooka’s leaping shortstop. That forced Roberts to hold to make sure the ball wasn’t caught.
After a walk, Timm wriggled out of trouble with a strikeout. She later escaped a bases-loaded jam in the fifth that featured singles by Taylor Warren and Alvarez.
Warren also singled to lead off the seventh, but couldn’t advance. Timm scattered six hits and stranded eight runners.
“We had them in scoring positions and that can definitely change momentum early,” Regnier said. “We were hitting the ball, so I wasn’t really worried. It was just a matter of getting that big hit.”
Minooka was not ripping the ball, either.
Reeves (20-4), who struck out 12, yielded five hits. Three were bunt singles, another was an infield grounder that hit third base, and the other a pop fly that barely reached the outfield grass but fell between three players for an RBI single in the second.
Minooka drew two walks to open the bottom of the first. The runners moved up on a wild pitch as Reeves struggled at times with her riseball. Timm’s well-placed bunt single accounted for the 1-0 lead.
“It’s a lot easier when you score first,” Alvarez said. “Not being able to score in the first inning really hurt us.”
Warren scored Yorkville’s only run, getting hit by a pitch in the third, stealing second and coming around when a smash from Alvarez went through the shortstop’s legs for an error.
The Indians added an insurance run in the fifth on a wild pitch and two more in the sixth courtesy of two errors and two bunt singles.
“A couple balls were a little bit higher than normal,” Regnier said. “When that ball is moving up, it can become a wild pitch or passed ball.
“Sometimes, when you’re throwing harder than normal, that can be the tendency. Madi will be back.”
