EAST PEORIA, Ill. — Senior shortstop Katelyn Landis would not allow herself to sound disappointed because she wasn’t.
With 63 wins over the past two seasons, Beecher brought home some impressive hardware.
Although victory No. 64 was out of reach for the defending champion Bobcats in Saturday’s Class 2A state title game, Landis didn’t want to talk about the pain. Instead, she concentrated on the joy.
“Last year was a great experience and coming back, even if we lost, it was still a great experience,” Landis said after a 5-2 loss to Rockridge at EastSide Centre. “It was a great team to be a part of, and I’m really going to miss it all.”
Bolstered by senior catcher Sarah Bisland’s two-out, three-run homer in the first inning, the Rockets (29-5) captured the program’s first state title. The Bobcats (32-3) lost for the first time in four state championship games.
“I’ve been on the other side and this one’s a tough one to take,” Beecher coach Kevin Hayhurst said. “It just didn’t feel that we were ever in control of this game. We were always fighting to get back into it and climbing uphill.”
Winning pitcher Grace Preston (16-3) scattered seven hits and two walks while striking out three in outdueling junior ace Kayla Hon (25-2), who had a 13-game postseason winning streak snapped for Beecher.
“I’m just glad we got this far, but it’s hard to lose that last one,” said Hon. “I just hope we can take this and use it for next year and the future.”
Hon allowed Rockridge’s first two batters to reach before retiring the next two. After falling behind 0-2, Bisland concluded her 11-pitch at-bat with a shot to left-center.
“Give the girl credit because she squared that one up,” Hayhurst said. “That’s a lot of momentum to start the game.”
The Bobcats answered quickly as a one-out double by sophomore Margaret Landis was followed by three straight singles, including RBI hits from Kaylie Sippel and Gabrielle Lee.
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“We definitely knew we had to pick up Kayla,” Lee said. “She was a little upset she let that home run go. We had to get something back for her.”
Rockridge tacked on another run in the second on a two-out RBI double by Loyola recruit Amelia Thomas.
Beecher stranded seven runners. Preston retired nine in a row after the Bobcats put two runners on to start the fourth.
She then gave herself some extra wiggle room with a solo homer in the seventh, but wound up not needing as Beecher lined into a game-ending double play.
“We got some runners on, and boy we hit some hard balls,” Hayhurst said. “They made some nice plays that squashed the rally.”
Joe Deacon is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.