HIGHLAND, Ill. — Jerry Trigg has been the head coach of the Effingham softball team for 26 years.
Only two years have featured a regional championship. It had also been five years since his last one.
Until Friday.
The Flaming Hearts defeated Salem, 9-1, in the championship game of the Class 3A Highland Regional.
“We’ve talked about it since the beginning of the year,” Trigg said. “We’ve had that mindset that we didn’t just want to get to the regional championship; we wanted to win it. We’ve been there several times. We focused on that a little more this year and the girls; they were talking about it all the time.”
“It means a lot and it feels like we picked up where we were last year,” Western Illinois signee Raegan Boone said. “We were so close last year.”
Effingham got out to a great start, scoring six runs in the opening inning.
Boone led off the contest with a single. She then stole second base and advanced to third after Jerzi Bierman grounded out to second base.
Boone then scored after an RBI single by Sidney Donaldson.
Natalie Armstrong followed that with a walk and Mya Harvey hit a two-run double, scoring Donaldson and courtesy runner Bria Beals.
Ryley Engel then hit an RBI single and Alyssa Martin followed with a two-run home run to left field.
“We hit the ball hard,” Trigg said. “Raegan sets the tone for us, leading off that first inning, stealing a base and then Sidney hits the ball hard through the infield. That’s been our mantra the whole year.”
Starting pitcher Saige Althoff struck out Breanna Thurman to open the bottom of the first. Mya Russell then flew out and Lilly Blagoue drew a walk before Olivia Paulson lined out back to Althoff to end the inning.
Bierman then grounded out on a bunt attempt to start the second. Donaldson drew a walk and Armstrong grounded into a fielder’s choice before Harvey struck out swinging to end the frame.
Althoff struck out Marah Johnson to start the bottom half of the inning. Isabella Decker grounded out to short and Alivia Rasul hit a single before Bria Murray struck out swinging to end the inning.
The Flaming Hearts scored one run in the top of the third.
Engel started the frame with a ground out. Martin and Madi Kirk hit back-to-back singles and Althoff struck out for the second out of the inning.
Boone then hit an RBI single, making it 7-0.
Althoff worked a 1-2-3-inning in the bottom of the third.
Effingham went down in order in the top of the fourth.
Blagoue started the bottom of the fourth with a solo home run. Paulson followed with a base hit. Johnson then flew into a fielder’s choice before Boone ended the frame by diving to her right, catching the line drive, and then firing the ball to first to complete the double play.
“That kept the momentum for us rather than let them have it,” Trigg said. “We were trying to stay focused and not let them have a big inning.”
Engel started the fifth inning with a solo home run. Martin then hit a double and Kirk hit a single, pushing Martin to third.
Kirk later stole second base and Boone reached on an error, loading the stations.
With the bases juiced, Bierman lined out to short and Donaldson flew out to center to end the inning.
Althoff then got Rasul to ground out to start the bottom of the fifth. She followed with a strike out of Murray before walking Natalie Lee and punching out Thurman.
Armstrong led off the sixth with a solo home run, making it 9-1.
Salem then induced three straight ground outs.
Althoff continued to be sensational, though, retiring six of the next eight batters to end the game. She struck out her final two of the contest.
“We went into this knowing that they had a really good lineup, so we needed to pound the inside because we knew that’s what they struggled with,” Althoff said. “We just kept that going.”
Althoff finished allowing four hits, one run and two walks to eight strikeouts.
“She hit her spots so well,” Trigg said. “We thought we had them scouted well. We knew the top five were really good hitters that we were going to have to stay away from and keep them off-balance, and, for the most part, we did that real well.”
Martin led the team with three hits. Boone, Engel and Kirk had two and Donaldson, Armstrong, Harvey and Althoff had one.
Effingham advances to the Class 3A Waterloo Sectional, where it will face Freeburg on Tuesday at 3 p.m.