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With a young roster, the La Salle Junior League softball team made a run all the way to the state championship game before losing 4-2 to an experienced Evergreen Park team.
“Placing second in state means a lot,” La Salle coach Jeremy Newell said. “This is the first year for these girls in the Junior division, so all except one will be eligible to return next year.”
In the title game, Evergreen Park scored a run in the first inning and added a run in the third.
La Salle tied it with a pair of runs in the top of the fifth inning.
Cara Kilmartin doubled to left field to drive home Allie Inman and Bethany Kasperski hit an RBI single to center field to plate Kilmartin.
Evergreen Park responded with two runs in the bottom half of the fifth and kept La Salle off the board in the sixth to secure the title.
Kilmartin was 1 for 2 with a run and an RBI, Kasperski was 1 for 1 with an RBI and Inman doubled and scored a run. Kaylee Newell and Preslee Harmon also had hits for La Salle.
“We played very well in the title game,” Jeremy Newell said. “We didn’t hit the ball as well as we did in the rest of the games and I think that was the big difference, but Evergreen Park has a very tough team. They placed second last year at state, and I believe they had most if not all of their girls return for this year. I believe they also have four or five of their girls playing on their varsity high school team where most of our girls are just starting high school in the fall and a few are just going into eighth grade.”
La Salle rolled through the District 20 tournament, beating Mendota 13-2 and topping Peru 15-0.
At state, La Salle lost its first game 7-0 to Evergreen Park but bounced back to defeat LaGrange 13-0, Kaneland 21-0 and Sterling 16-1 to reach the title game.
“We played well on defense,” Jeremy Newell said about the keys to La Salle’s tournament success. “Hitting was key. We were able to score a lot of runs in most games, and having multiple pitchers to carry the load during multiple game days.
“Overall, we have a great group of girls that I was very happy to coach. The amount of compliments I received about our team’s sportsmanship from coaches of teams we defeated and umpires throughout the tournament says a lot about the team of girls we have. I expect a lot of good things from this group as they move into high school.”