EDWARDSVILLE – Maria Smith’s second home run of the game, a solo shot over the left field fence with one out in the bottom of the seventh inning, gave Edwardsville a dramatic 6-5 win over Collinsville in the IHSA Class 4A regional final Friday afternoon at the Edwardsville Sports Complex.

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Smith home run came after the Kahoks came from a 5-1 deficit with a run in the sixth and three in the seventh to tie the game.

The Tigers have been having a run of last inning wins, starting a win over Belleville West May 11 before coming up with four runs in the seventh to defeat Alton on the road a few days later.

“It’s what I just told them,” said Edwardsville head coach Lori Blade. “For the last two weeks, they’ve been all about the dramatics; I’d rather just play a little more solid defense and keep that lead, but kudos to Collinsville coming back on us like they did. They just put some things together, and Ryleigh (Owens) got behind, hit that kid to start the inning, and that’s not how she usually is. So, at least she bore down and got us out of it with the lead, and then, chose to pitch to Maria, and that’s what you get.”

Smith has been in the lead-off spot since early in the season in order to get her as many at-bats as possible, and the results have been tremendous for the Tigers.

“Yeah, that’s what we have to do,” Blade said, “and then, hopefully, somebody can hit her, because she’s awfully quick, and you don’t want somebody in front of her slowing her down on the bases either if we get the opportunity. The first couple of games, I didn’t. I had her in the three-spot, and I didn’t like how it was going, and we made the switch, and then, it’s been OK since.”

After the first home run, a lead-off shot over the center field fence to the right of the flagpole, Blade felt Smith was becoming overanxious at the plate, but settled down at the right time to hit the second homer that won it for the Tigers.

“Yeah, she just gets a little anxious at times,” Blade said. “The next bat after the home run, she got a change-up, and she popped it up, and then, made the nice adjustment; that last pitch was a change-up, and she stayed back on it and got all of it. She’s anxious, she just wants to do well for her team, but she just needs to stay patient, and she’s got quick enough hands to make the adjustment.”

The Tigers had 10 hits on the day, eight of them for extra bases.

“You know what? We put some things together, and boy, when we hit it, we hit it hard today,” Blade said, “which was good to see. It just wasn’t all together all the time, and I ran us out of the first inning. That was my fault. Maria started out well, and then Kat (Bobinski-Boyd) gets one down the line, and then a poor decision on my part. But they picked me up, and we came back to finish it off, and I’m proud of their effort, and they’re a gritty group. They just want to dig in and compete, and put it on the line for us, and that’s what I want.”

Kahok head coach Brett Swip gave credit to the Tigers for their win.

“They’re a great program,” Swip said. “They have a track record, they have a history of being in these moments. This is what we’re pushing for, is pushing to be in these moments, and you know, our kids left if all out there. And that’s what you’ve got to ask for; that’s what you ask for as a coach just gives it your all, empty the tank. And there’s no doubt about it, that’s what our kids did today.”

Even when Collinsville fell behind 5-1, the feeling in the Kahok dugout was positive and upbeat.

“You know, we were OK,” Swip said. “And a big reason we were OK is that most of the season, we’ve been competitive with them. We scored a lot of runs against them. So we felt like we had a shot, and never really saw a change in our kids. We actually weren’t playing our best right there in the middle of the game, and we just didn’t focus too much on their momentum, we just focused on trying to turn it around, trying to get that energy back on our side. Then a couple of big hits, and a couple of big base running plays, and all of a sudden, the energy shifted back to us, and kept us going.”

Throughout the game, Collinsville kept battling and never gave up.

“When you’re a coach, you hear words like battling and fighting, you couldn’t be more proud of your kids,” Swip said, “and that’s how we feel.”

The Kahoks had a chance right at the start when Bella Marsala hit a one-out single and Riley Doyle reached on an error, but Sam Brakebill hit into a double play to end the inning. Smith then hit the second pitch over the center field fence for the lead-off homer that put the Tigers ahead 1-0. Bobinski-Boyd then tripled to the gap in right-center, and Moe Kastens hit a fly ball to right that was caught by Adriana Hall, who threw out Bobinski-Boyd at the plate with a great throw to keep the score 1-0.

Collinsville tied it up in the third, starting with a lead-off single by Hall, who advanced to third on consecutive ground outs, then scored on a Brakebill single up the middle to tie the game 1-1. The Tigers took the lead right back in the home half with a one-out double by Kastens and an RBI single Lexi Gorniak to make it 2-1.

In the fifth, Edwardsville scored three times to extend their lead to 5-1, starting with a one-out double by Syd Lawrence and a pinch-hit single by Maci McNamee. Lawrence ran through a stop sign to score the run that put the Tigers ahead 3-1

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“She did have a big hit to keep that inning going,” Blade said. “We’ve got some pinch-hitters that did a nice job getting on and hitting the ball hard. So it’s a good team effort, and that’s what this group’s about.”

And what was Lawrence’s reaction after she ran through Blade’s stop sign?

“She sure did,” Blade said. “She came back kind of scared, that fresh on look,” Blade said with a smile and laugh. “It all worked, so we’ll go on without it.”

One out later, Bobinski-Boyd doubled home McNamee to make it 4-1, and Kastens followed suit with another double that brought home Bobinski-Boyd to make it 5-1 for Edwardsville.

Collinsville came back to within 5-2 in the top of the sixth, starting with a one-out walk to pinch hitter Madison Recklein, who then stole second and went to third on a base hit by Heather Martinez. Martinez then attempted to steal second, and the Tigers got Recklein into a rundown, but Recklein beat the throw home to score, with Martinez taking third on the play.

The Kahoks then started their seventh-inning rally to tie the game when with one out, Marsala was hit by a pitch, Doyle singled and pinch hitter Brylee Anderton drew a walk to load the bases. R.J. Simpson grounded out to short, with Marsala scoring to make it 5-3, and Darby Tarrant delivered with a clutch double down the left field line to score Doyle and Anderton to tie the game 5-5. In the bottom of the inning, with one out, Smith hit a 2-1 offering over the left field fence to win the game for the Tigers to give them another regional championship.

And to Blade, it’s always a thrill to win a regional title.

“You know what? They don’t,” Blade said when asked if winning the regional ever gets old, “because it’s always different kids. And they’re so excited, and they just want their season to keep going, and they’ve got graduation tomorrow, so it’s a big day for them, but really proud of this group. But no, it doesn’t get old, just because of the kids’ excitement; it’s different kids all the time.”

And this season’s success for the Tigers is truly a team effort.

“Probably that it’s no one person,” Blade said. “It’s a team effort. You know, it’s a team effort pitching; we go with an entire group of pitchers when we have to, but it’s always somebody different. I know Maria’s had a great year, but it’s been different kids and different times, and Maria’s not going to score six runs on her own, so she was a big part of it, but it’s a lot of other kids doing a great job as well.”

The Kahoks end their season 10-18, and Swip feels that his club is on the right track.

“We’ve been working towards this pinnacle here, kind of at the end of the year,” Swip said. “Our next goal is to win a regional title. Collinsville hasn’t won a regional since 2011, and we took over the program three years ago, and our focus has been on getting back to that point. This year, we needed to get to a regional championship, and we did. Now, we’ve got to win that championship next year. So, I think the pinnacle into this season, we were playing good softball right at the right time.”

And the future for the Kahoks is bright, with many underclassmen returning next season.

“Yeah, we have a lot of kids that are underclassmen,” Swip said, “and they’ll be returning, and you hope that this motivates them.”

The Tigers are now 24-4 and advance to the Normal Community sectional, where Edwardsville will face the winner of the O’Fallon-Belleville West regional final at Rita Menke Field at Belleville East on Tuesday in a 4:30 p.m. start. Blade is looking forward to the challenge from a fellow Southwestern Conference team.

“We’ll be there,” Blade said. “No matter what, it’s going to be a tough deal. O’Fallon’s played us close, got us that last game that I missed, and West has played us close both games as well. At this point in time, it’s like a conference tournament, and just trying to survive, and it’s tough to beat somebody three times.”

And the experience of a tight playoff game can only help the younger players down the road as well.

“Oh, it is,” Blade said. “Just because it’s the game, and it’s how the game goes; that’s why you play. You can’t go by records, you can’t go by statistics, necessarily, you’ve gotta go play. And in the post-season, that’s what it’s all about. In our conference this year, the top six teams can beat each other. So, we knew that coming in, and that’s just how it’s been, and what was expected, and how it is.”

Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.

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