PEORIA — By any measure, Lincoln-Way West senior Paige Seivert had all the angles covered.
With two swings, the Milwaukee School of Engineering commit drove in the first three runs. She scored the next two. She also made an exceptional running catch in center field.
Seivert’s imprints will forever be all over what, for now, is the biggest win in school history.
“This was so big for me — this was always so big for all of us,” Seivert said. “Since we’ve been freshmen, we’ve wanted this so bad.”
The Warriors had plenty of contributors Saturday in a 6-1 victory over Mundelein in the Class 4A state championship game at Louisville Slugger Sports Complex.
Beyond Seivert’s heroics, Kaylea Armstrong tallied three hits for Lincoln-Way West (30-7). Governors State recruit Jessica Noga had two hits, while NC State commit Reese Rourke played sterling defense. St. Xavier-bound Abby Brueggmann went the distance, allowing no earned runs.
History, indeed, was made.
The state championship is the first for any team at the 17-year-old high school.
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“It means everything,” Rourke said. “I think we are starting a legacy and it’s going to continue. It’s the best feeling to be a part of this Warrior team’s history. I think this set the tone.”
Without question, the tone-setter Saturday was Seivert.
Lincoln-Way West trailed 1-0 in the top of the third inning with one out and Reese Forsythe on third base. Seivert hit a chopper a handful of feet in front of the plate. Forsythe beat the flip home.
“When I swung at that ball I was like, ‘Uh-oh,'” Seivert said. “But I got an RBI out of it. So honestly, I’m proud of myself for that and I’m proud of Reese. She really busted it heading for home.”
Seivert broke the 1-1 tie in the fourth with a two-out, two-run triple to the fence in right-center. There were no uh-ohs this time.
“At two strikes, I was sitting change-up,” Seivert said. “I knew she was going to throw it. And she threw it low and out, which is literally my wheelhouse. That was a gift.”
Seivert made it 4-1 when she scored on a wild pitch. She finished her historical day with a single to lead off the top of the seventh, scoring on a base hit by Armstrong.
The offensive explosion fit her personality.
“Paige is like a ball of energy,” Brueggmann said. “She is so fun. She’s the funniest person I know but also the most hardworking person. She did great (Saturday), had great at-bats.
“She got the team going. She got this one.”
Seivert, a four-year varsity player, has hit out of the No. 3 spot this season for head coach Heather Novak. She finishes with nine doubles, 11 home runs and 46 RBIs.
“Paige has always been such an athlete,” Novak said. “She has the ability at the plate to change the game with one swing of the bat. But she’s also arguably the best outfielder we’ve ever had.
“She does a lot of things well and definitely has the ability to impact games.”
And smarts? She was certainly smart enough to not let Friday’s 2-1 major upset victory over Marist lead to a letdown. She applied her engineering mind.
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“Well … honestly, when we were coming here, we were talking like, ‘We’re here for a business trip, we’re not joking around, we’re here to get things done,'” Seivert said, smiling. “We said, ‘We’re here in our tuxes. We’re all business.’
“One of our things on Warriors softball is to leave a legacy. That was definitely in our mindset going into this game. We wanted to go down in history.”
Tony Baranek is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.