Youth softball: Oglesby blanks Spring Valley 3-0 to win Major League (12U) District 20 title

PERU – Through the opening scoreless three innings of Sunday’s Major League Softball District 20 championship game at Sunset Park the Oglesby and Spring Valley 12U All-Star teams were looking for a spark.

Oglesby found that flash in the bottom of the fourth inning.

Madisyn Engel’s infield single started a three-run rally for Oglesby, while pitcher Cara Kilmartin finished a one-hitter to post a 3-0 victory over Spring Valley to earn a third straight trip to the state tournament, which will be held in Rushville next weekend.

“I hit the ball, ran to first, went to second, went to third and scored a run,” said Engel, who broke her back nine months ago after a fall down the stairs. “It was fun and pretty exciting.”

Following Engel’s lead-off liner that deflected off Spring Valley pitcher Brynn Pellegrini’s glove, Eliana Opsal singled down the left-field line to move Engle to second. Kilmartin’s flyball to centerfield was dropped to load the bases.

After an out, Bethany Kasperski lined a one-hop double, her second of the game, off the fence in right field to score two. Siena Combs drove in Kilmartin with a ground out to second.

“That was huge for us,” Oglesby coach Derek Kilmartin said of Engle reaching base. “Madisyn getting on not only gave us a baserunner to start the inning, but I could just feel the confidence spike in our dugout. From there we were able to get a couple hits, take advantage of an error to get three runs, and then closed it out.

“All of the girls played an outstanding game against a very good team.”

Spring Valley had defeated Oglesby 7-2 on Wednesday.

Cara Kilmartin allowed only a leadoff single by Ava Crowther in the sixth, struck out eight, didn’t walk a batter and was aided by fantastic defensive plays by Elyse Grubich at shortstop and Aubrey Hale in rightfield.

“I know I have to hit my corners and spot my change-up to do well. I felt like I did both of those things well today,” Cara Kilmartin said. “After playing them earlier this week we had a better idea of how to pitch to them. I also can’t thank my fielders enough; they really made some fantastic plays behind me and didn’t make any mistakes.

“Madisyn’s hit was a huge spark for us. I’m so happy for her to be the one who got us going.”

“[Cara] struggled against them the first time we played them earlier this week,” Derek Kilmartin said. “I asked her when we got in the car after that game, ‘Did you hit many of your spots?’ and she said, ‘not really.’ Today she was spot on hitting any spot with any pitch we called. We took some things we felt [Spring Valley] struggled with at the plate and tried to use that to our advantage.”

Spring Valley pitcher Brynn Pellegrini finished allowing two earned runs on five hits, with one walk and 10 strikeouts.

“On Wednesday night when we played them, we had 16 hits, then today we could only get one,” Spring Valley coach Josh Pellegrini said. “Cara is a phenomenal pitcher and I figured she would come back strong, and she did. We hit a couple of balls hard early that were right at fielders, and they also made a couple of really good plays defensively.

“I thought Brynn pitched very good as well, but we just weren’t able to get anything going with the bats, and they were able to in the fourth inning.

“I wish Oglesby luck next weekend.”