Prep softball: Sycamore’s season ends in supersectional with loss to Antioch

MAPLE PARK – In the top of the first, Kairi Lantz blasted a Jacey Schuler pitch off the top of the fence in dead center, just missing a home run that would have staked Sycamore to an early lead.

In the bottom of the first, Schuler got the extra pop, launching a three-run home run to right-center as Antioch went on to an 8-2 win over the Spartans to claim the Class 3A Kaneland Supersectional on Monday.

“The difference of the game might have been 2 feet,” Sycamore coach Jill Carpenter said. “Kairi’s ball didn’t go out in the first inning, and that’s a momentum changer if it does. And then they smoke one out of the park in the bottom of the inning. Talk about two different types of emotions right there.”

The Sequoits (28-5) will head to the Class 3A state tournament for the third straight year, beating Sycamore (33-4) for a second consecutive year. Schuler is a big reason why, not only with her home run but because of her 11-strikeout two-hitter in which she did not allow an earned run.

“She was just grooving it,” Antioch coach Anthony Rocco said. “She caught them looking a couple times early on. I knew we had the advantage like that, at least the first time through the order. It’s hard to adjust to a good pitcher like that right at the get-go.”

Lantz also drove in a run in the fifth when she was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to score Bella Johnson, who had the other hit of the game for Sycamore. Addie McLaughlin also drove in a run that inning with a bases-loaded walk.

Schuler had four combined walks and hit-by-pitches in the game, three coming in the fifth. Although Sycamore cut the lead to 6-2 at the time, the Sequoits tacked on runs in the fifth and sixth to pad the lead.

“Taking that momentum away in the bases-loaded inning was really, really good for us,” Schuler said. “Bases loaded is always a lot of pressure but just locating your pitches and keeping it to a low score is ideal.”

Antioch had nine hits in the game, including two for Jadynn Ruiz and three for Kailyn Bockwoldt, who scored twice. Samantha Hillner hit a two-run homer in the third inning to push the Antioch lead to 6-0. She finished with three RBIs after hitting a sacrifice fly in the first to score Bockwoldt and cap the four-run inning.

“Our motto this whole time in the playoffs has been ‘We hit, we win,’” Rocco said. “It’s been that way since May 2. I think we’re up to 145, 150 hits in a month. I’m proud of these kids,” Rocco said. “They work their [butts] off. We play a tough schedule, had some tough losses. ... But the way these kids are playing, they’re doing an awesome job.”

Antioch followed a third-place finish at state in 2022 with a second-place finish last season.

“It’s been a goal since the beginning of the season,” Schuler said. “We’ve been really working hard, pushing for it, keeping the energy up. And to know we’re going back again is a great feeling.”

For the second straight year, Sycamore’s season ended with a loss to the Sequoits in the supersectional round.

The Spartans won the Interstate 8 Conference crown, beat frequent playoff rivals Sterling and Kaneland in the postseason again and tied the school record with 33 wins. And they did it all with only two seniors, Keera Trautvetter and Thea Boubin, who was hurt for a big chunk of the season.

“I told them I’d play in this game 10 times even if you told me I was going to lose all 10,” Carpenter said. “They earned their way here, and they worked really, really hard to get here. It [stinks], and it hurts and it doesn’t matter who’s coming back next year because next year is not guaranteed. That’s a long way away. So you try to live in the present. I’m proud of the way they stuck together all year and battled through some tough times and won some close games and dominated some games.”