Oglesby rallies past Bi-County, heads to state

By KEVIN CHLUM kchlum@shawmedia.com

OGLESBY – Just before the final inning of the Major League Softball District 20 championship Thursday, umpires saw lightning and sent the Oglesby and Bi-County teams off the field.

When play resumed about half an hour later, Bi-County scored three runs in the top of the sixth inning to extend its lead to four.

Oglesby overcame the delay and deficit, rallying for five runs to secure an improbable 6-5 walk-off victory and earn a trip to the state tournament.

“It’s awesome, especially the way it ended,” said Oglesby coach Derek Kilmartin, whose team beat Bi-County 7-2 in Thursday’s first game to force the winner-take-all contest. “They stuck it out through that kind of crazy end to the game with the delay and giving up three runs. Being able to come back is just awesome. These girls have played a lot of softball and they’ve had success, so it’s neat to see them finish a game that way.”

Kennedy Kramarsic led off the sixth with a single, and Elaina Opsal followed with a single to left field. An error on the play allowed the runners to advance to second and third.

Sadie Leffelman grounded out to the shortstop to score Kramarsic before Aaliyah Martin delivered an RBI single to right-center field.

After Elyse Grubich reached on an error, Quinn Entrican hit an RBI single through the right side of the infield to pull Oglesby within a run.

Bi-County decided to intentionally walk Bethany Kasperski to load the bases, then pulled in the infield.

Cara Kilmartin hit a pop-up near sec- ond base that got just over the glove of the Bi-County second baseman. Grubich scored, and Entrican raced home with the winning run, sending the Oglesby players and coaches rushing onto the field in a celebratory mob.

“I was kind of judging [where the ball was],” Derek Kilmartin said about his decision to send the second runner home. “If it was going to get out there, we’re sending her home. We wanted to be aggressive there so they have to field it, they have to make a good throw, they have to catch it, and they have to tag. So there’s a lot they had to do.”

Derek Kilmartin said the key to the last inning was putting the ball in play after striking out six times, including five times looking, through the first five innings.

“We preached all day and against this team the other day [in a 3-2 loss] that we just need to make contact,” he said. “We need to let them field the ball, and if they make mistakes, they make mistakes. They knew [going into the last inning] they had to get on base, and things did happen for us.”

Entrican pitched a complete game for Oglesby.

Bi-County took a 2-0 lead with a pair of runs in the third inning. Lilly Breckenridge scored when Jolene Poole reached on an error, and Kennedy Holocker hit an RBI single to score Avery Lenkaitis.

Oglesby made it 2-1 on an RBI single by Martin in the fourth.

Bi-County pushed its lead to 5-1 in the sixth. McKay Gensini ripped a tworun single and Anahi Avila hit an RBI single.

Holocker tossed a complete game for Bi-County after pitching five innings in the first game.

“The first game we didn’t play our best,” Bi-County coach Charlie Lenkaitis said. “It was uncharacteristic for us to kick the ball around a little bit, but the girls learned from that and came out in the second game and did a great job. I have to give a ton of credit to [Cara] Kilmartin. In Game 1, she was a heck of a pitcher, and she comes back in Game 2 and gets the game winner.

“I’m so proud of our girls. They played for each other all year. They’re going to turn into some great young women. It’s been a privilege to be able to coach them. We’ll be back next year. We wish Oglesby nothing but the best at state. We hope they bring District 20 home a championship.”

In the first game, each team scored a run in the first inning. Oglesby scored a run in the second and two each in the third and fourth innings before adding one more in the sixth.

Leffelman, Martin, Grubich and Sienna Combs each drove in a run for Oglesby, while Kasperski scored two runs. Kilmartin pitched a complete game, allowing two runs on five hits while striking out eight batters.

Oglesby opens the state tournament Saturday in Burbank.

Spring Valley captured the Senior League Baseball championship by sweeping Peru.

On Friday, Spring Valley beat Peru 9-4 followed by an 11-1 clincher on Saturday.

Spring Valley will play in Central Regional hosted by District in Peru starting July 22

Minor League Baseball: Peru and Streator advanced to the Minor League baseball District 20 Tournament championship on Sunday.

Peru beat Ottawa American 5-0 and Streator defeated Princeton 13-1.

Sunday’s championship game was not reported

Bi-County falls in Minor League softball: The Oglesby Minor League softball team beat Bi-County 25-10 in an elimination game in the District 20 Tournament on Friday in Peru.

On Saturday, LaSalle beat Mendota 20-5, Princeton beat Peru 8-2 and Spring Valley beat Utica 13-0

On Sunday, Utica beat Oglesby 12-2 and Peru beat La Salle 6-5

11u Baseball

Streator wins 11U baseball D20 title: The Streator 11-and-under baseball team beat Peru 7-2 on Friday to win the District 20 championship.

Peru advanced to the championship with a 5-1 win over Ottawa American on Thursday.

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