The Seneca softball team battled to the very end but came up just short in a 3-1 loss to Carterville in Saturday's IHSA Class 2A championship on OSF Healthcare Field inside the Louisville Slugger Sports Complex in Peoria. The Fighting Irish ended the season 39-3.

Seneca and Carterville clash for the 2A softball title Saturday, June 6, 2026, in Peoria. Carterville took the win 3-1 in a tight game.

Some unlikely heroes – and some likely ones too – came through when the Seneca softball team needed it most Thursday in the Fighting Irish’s wild 8-6 Class 2A state semifinal victory over IC Catholic at Peoria’s Louisville Slugger Sports Complex.

Seneca and IC Catholic play a thrilling game in the 2A softball state semifinal Thursday in Peoria. Seneca took the win 8-6 and will advance to the finals on Saturday.

Sycamore pitcher Bella Jacobs was voted conference MVP by Interstate 8 coaches as the champion Spartans had five first-team selections. Ottawa and Morris had four selections each, Kaneland and La Salle-Peru had two each and Rochelle had one.

The Seneca softball team is looking to take two more steps, starting with Thursday's 2:30 p.m. IHSA Class 2A state semifinal against IC Catholic at Louisville Slugger Sports Complex in Peoria.

Marengo's Gabby Christopher was named the Kishwaukee River Conference Player of the Year and Woodstock North's Kylee Nicholson earned Pitcher of the Year honors. Here is the rest of the 2026 All-KRC softball team, as selected by coaches.

Seneca junior pitcher Hayden Pfeifer scattered four hits, walked one and struck out 11 in leading the softball Fighting Irish to a 3-0 Class 2A supersectional victory over Brimfield at EastSide Centre on Monday.

Seneca defeated Brimfield 3-0 in the Class 2A Supersectional on Monday, June 1, 2026 at Eastside Centre in East Peoria. The Lady Irish will play IC Catholic in the Class 2A semifinals on Thursday at 2:30p.m at the Louisville Slugger Complex in Peoria.

Seneca overcame a seventh-inning Beecher rally for a 6-5 victory in the IHSA Class 2A Pontiac Sectional championship on Friday, May 29, 2026.

Behind elite defense and another dominant outing from ace Maddie Simms, Gardner-South Wilmington punched its ticket to the supersectional while ending Serena‘s cinderella postseason run with a 4-1 victory on Friday night.

After Beecher turned a three-run deficit to a one-run lead with a two-out rally in the top of the seventh, Seneca's Emma Mino delivered the walk-off single in the Class 2A Pontiac Sectional championship to give the Fighting Irish their first sectional title in program history.

L-P fell to Dunlap 10-0 in the Class 3A Sectional final on Friday, May 29, 2026 at the L-P Athletic Complex in La Salle.

Serena senior pitcher Cassie Walsh blasted a tie-breaking two-run homer in the top of the seventh, then retired Newark in order in the Huskers' wild 10-8 win over the Norsemen in Wednesday's Class 1A Indian Creek Sectional softball semifinal in Shabbona.

Hayden Pfeifer pitched a one-hit shutout, Aurora Weber got the scoring started, and Emma Mino drove home three runs as Seneca softball bested St. Bede 10-0 in the Tuesday semifinal of the Class 2A Pontiac Sectional.

The Ottawa softball team, after a solid start, suffered a heartbreaking 2-1 loss to Dunlap in Tuesday's Class 3A La Salle-Peru Sectional semifinals to finish the season at 22-11.

Dunlap defeated Ottawa 2-1 in the Class 3A Sectional semifinals on Tuesday, May 26, 2026 at the La Salle-Peru Athletic Complex in La Salle.

The Serena softball team first rallied to force extra innings, then stunned top-seeded Marquette with a single run in the ninth inning of a 2-1, regional-championship upset of the Crusaders on Friday in Serena.