Newark’s Ryan Williams wasn’t oblivious to her surroundings, no matter how it sounded.
Fact is, the sophomore third baseman was hyperfocused Saturday morning in spite of the hoopla surrounding the softball program’s first trip to the state finals.
“I didn’t even know she was left-handed, if we’re being honest,” Williams said of Forreston’s Kara Erdman. “I really don’t pay attention to windups or what hand they’re throwing with.
“I try to pay attention to as little as possible to anything having to do with the pitcher.”
Williams, who bats third, belted two triples and scored her team’s only runs in a 4-2 loss in the Class 1A third-place game at the Louisville Slugger Sports Complex in Peoria.
The southpaw Erdman was the winning pitcher for the Cardinals (23-5) after checking the Norsemen (31-5-1) on five hits while striking out 14 in eight innings.
Newark starter Kaitlyn Schofield gave up two runs in 5 2/3 innings and Kodi Rizzo gave up two in the eighth in relief.
Before the game, Newark coach Tim Schofield was concerned about facing a lefty.
“She’s our third left-hander we’ve faced all year in what, 37 games?” Tim Schofield said. “But down here, everybody is good. There are plenty of pitchers who can get a lot of strikeouts.
“She did a good job, hit her spots and kept us off-balance.”
That was the case for Williams when she struck out in her first at-bat.
“I saw all straight spin pitches that first at-bat,” Williams said. “I saw it curve around my bat every time I swung. I had to adjust.”
See the ball, hit the ball?
Apparently.
Williams may be something of a minimalist — where less is more when it comes to hitting. She made her mark at state like she has all season despite being under the weather.
“My voice is gone, I have a cough, that kind of thing,” Williams said. “I just wanted to help any way I could.”
Williams delivered a pair of doubles and drove in two runs Friday when Newark lost 8-3 in the semifinals to Illini Bluffs, which then beat Casey-Westfield 1-0 in nine innings Saturday for the state championship.
Going 4-for-7 over the weekend boosted Williams’ batting average to a team-best .441. She finished with 14 doubles, two triples, five home runs and 38 RBIs.
“She’s coming along really well,” Schofield said of Williams. “She’s fast. If she can find the gap, she can be standing on third.”
Peyton Wohead drove in Williams in the fourth inning with a two-out single. Williams tripled in the fifth with two outs and scored on a wild pitch.
Newark squandered a good scoring chance in the third inning as senior Kailey Wohead led off with a fly ball to right field that bounced off the head of the backtracking outfielder and went for a triple.
Erdmann buckled down, however, and struck out the next three batters, although it took 11 pitches to retire Kaitlyn Schofield for the third out.
“We work on bunts all the time and we’ve won games by getting the bunt down,” Tim Schofield said. “Maybe they were putting too much pressure on themselves.
“Those are the ones you really need. With no outs, that’s a big time to get a run.”
Kailey Wohead was one of just two seniors in Newark’s lineup.
“We just got unlucky there,” she said. “We’ve come up with big hits time and again, but we came up short this time.”
Wohead will cherish the memory, however.
“Since I was a little girl I wanted to go to state in my No. 1 sport,” she said. “Even getting fourth is so surreal.
“And this team is going to do some more good things. I would not be surprised to see them return.”
Tim Schofield urged caution, though.
“Nothing is guaranteed,” he said. “But we will have seven or eight girls who play 40-50 games this summer. And this experience will help.”