MOLINE — Nick Torrence entered the season hoping to be in the starting lineup for Geneva.
The senior designated hitter had to keep working to get there, though.
After establishing himself, he turned into one of the Vikings’ most valuable bats down the stretch.
“I always knew I could do it,” said Torrence, a converted catcher. “it was just a matter of when I got my opportunity. It was Lake Park and I started that (April 28) game off with a double.
“I sprained my thumb going into third. I had to sit out a couple games, but I was back in the starting lineup because of that game. I just kept it going since then.”
Torrence started off Monday’s Class 3A Geneseo Supersectional — which was moved to Black Hawk College due to the rainy weather — the way he did against Lake Park.
He doubled and scored on a single by Alex Abraham in the first inning, cutting the deficit in half. Geneva couldn’t get anything going from there, however, in an 8-1 loss to East Peoria.
Tate Beran and Aidan Hall had the other two hits for the Vikings (31-8), whose historic season came to an end as Dalton Oakman was dominant over 6 1/3 innings for East Peoria (26-15).
Before being pulled with 74 pitches to preserve him for the state finals, Oaklman struck out two and allowed only four hits, one walk and and one run. Geneva also hit into three double plays.
Torrence, meanwhile, spent two seasons on the junior varsity after Abraham won the varsity job at catcher. Torrence kept his nose down and kept working, and when he eventually got a chance, his bat allowed him to become the Vikings’ primary DH while hitting second in the order.
“It took a while to get his bat going because he wasn’t playing every day,” Geneva coach Brad Wendell said. “Finally, it just took off and he was the DH the rest of the way.
“He’s a huge part of our offense the last 20 games. He never got disgruntled. He just kept showing up. He’s a good baseball player. I’m really happy for him.”
East Peoria jumped out to a 2-0 lead, but Torrence shot a 3-2 pitch into right-center in the bottom of the first and Abraham singled him in to slice the deficit in half.
“It felt huge,” Torrence said. “I just wanted to get something going, see a bunch of pitches to get the game going. We knew he was a strike thrower coming in.
“It was 3-2, just tried to get my bat out there, line drive and I got the double. I was excited. I trust these guys to hit behind me. I got that hit and thought we were going to start rolling.”
Instead, Roman Moody doubled, tripled and scored three times for East Peoria.
Still, the loss doesn’t overshadow what the Vikings achieved with an outright DuKane Conference title, a program-record 31 wins and the first sectional title in program history.
“Hard work to get to a point like this,” Wendell said. “We obviously have a lot of talent. Guys are working hard every day and we can’t forget how we got here. It’s our best season ever.
“You think about all the steps we’ve taken and how exciting it is. It really hurts when it’s over.”
Torrence isn’t playing baseball or golf in college, so this final moment will stand out to him.
“Coming into the season, I felt great,” Torrence said. “I thought I would be in the starting lineup right away, but I had to battle for it. Finally got it and we kept winning. It felt like the Bears.
“You just kept going and think it’s not going to stop but here it is.”
Paul Johnson is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
