EAST PEORIA – Long games are old hat to Hardin-Calhoun's softball team.
Especially in the postseason.
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“We've been there before,” said Warrior catcher Emily Baalman. “That's what I was just thinking – we'd been hitting the ball all game; now's the best time to do it.”
And hit the ball was exactly what Baalman did, a bottom of the 12th single that brought home Junie Zirkelbach with the winning run in a 2-1 win over Princeville in Friday's IHSA Class 1A state semifinal game at EastSide Centre in East Peoria. The Warriors, who will be going for their third straight championship, will take on Goreville, 11-0 winners over Heyworth Friday, at 12:30 p.m. today.
“I think we'd been in that situation before,” Baalman said, “and we believed in ourselves. We've been there before in extended innings and we were just playing softball; it's nothing new to us.”
The Warriors had had opportunities earlier in the game to push runs across; things hadn't worked out previously. “It was a little tense,” Baalman said, “but our experience is what got us through that; it was like we'd been here before and we had done this – we've seen ourselves do it. I think our confidence was there that we can do it.”
Zirkelbach doubled to lead off the inning and knew the chance to win was there. “I knew Emily had been hot and I knew she'd come through again,” Zirkelbach said. “It felt really good and we knew Grace (Baalman) would stick it out again; she's used to the long games.”
Once Zirkelbach got on, she was determined to get home however she could. “I was going to go home however I could,” Zirkelbach said. “I should had gone three on my hit, but I knew Emily would finish it, so I wasn't going to take any chances to get out.”
Both players are excited to get the chance to three-peat. “We're really fortunate,” Zirkelbach said. “This is my sixth straight trip (combining the Warriors' trips to the finals in both basketball and softball.
“It's gone by fast – we're excited. We can bring it home and celebrate.”
“The amount of support we have (from the community), there's no way we could do this without everyone,” Baalman said. “Our whole county is here for you and they want you to win just as bad as you want to do something good for your team. It's awesome.”
