Softball: Bureau Valley rallies from 5 down, beats Erie-Prophetstown on walk-off single in regional opener

MANLIUS – Stepping to the plate with two runners on in the bottom of the seventh inning in a tie game, Bureau Valley junior Madison Smith was looking to put the ball in play.

“I was just trying to be calm and trust myself,” Smith said. “I had a 2-0 count, so I knew something good was coming, and I just knew I needed to get it on the ground to score Sadie [Bailey] from third base.”

Smith laced the pitch into left field to plate Bailey for a 6-5, walk-off winner over Erie-Prophetstown in a Class 2A Rock Falls Regional quarterfinal Monday.

“I knew we had won the game at that point,” Smith said. “It felt really good.

“It means a lot [to get the win]. We have a new coach. First regional win for him. We played for him tonight.”

Smith’s hit completed a five-run comeback for the No. 7-seeded Storm over the No. 8 Panthers.

“We didn’t make a couple plays we should have, and it put us in the hole, but I love the way we came around, stuck with it, stayed positive,” BV coach Dave Shepard said. “We know we can hit. Sometimes it might take an inning or two and sometimes four or five, but we know the hits are going to come as long as we stay positive and keep our heads up.”

Bureau Valley (15-9) advances to play No. 2 Morrison in a semifinal at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday in Rock Falls. The Mustangs beat the Storm 1-0 on April 30.

“They’re playing really well,” Shepard said. “I believe we can play right there with them. If we do the little things right and play the game the way we’re supposed to play it, we’ll be fine. That’s what we have to keep preaching as coaches.

“We’ll keep preaching be positive, do the little things right, and good things will happen.”

Good things started to happen for the Storm in the fifth inning Monday after falling behind 5-0.

Emma Stabler and Carly Reglin each drew a walk to start the inning. Emma Stull then smacked a fly ball that fell in the right-center field gap to score Stabler. A throwing error allowed Reglin to score and Stull to advance to third base. Back-to-back fielder’s choices loaded the bases with no outs.

After a strikeout and popout, sophomore Kadyn Haage belted a fly ball to deep right field that got over the outfielder’s head to clear the bases.

“I got kind of worried she was going to catch it, but once I saw the ball get down I got so happy I just ran and ran and I made it to third,” Haage said. “I felt so happy that I scored all the runs and tied the game.”

Smith pitched around a two-out double by Sydney Schwartz in the sixth and threw a perfect seventh to set up her heroics in the bottom of the seventh.

Bailey drew a walk to start the seventh and advanced to second on a wild pitch.

Emily Wright lined a single into center field, and Shepard held up Bailey at third. Smith then delivered the game-winner.

“Sadie walked and then there was a wild pitch, so we had her on second with our three and four hitters up, who have been hitting the ball well,” Shepard said. “Emily had a great hit. I think [Bailey] probably would have been thrown out [if I sent her]. It was a good throw. I know the ball was wet, but why take that chance? With Maddie coming up next, there’s really no reason to take a chance. I’m really proud of Maddie.”

The Panthers struck first on an RBI double by Schwartz in the third. E-P tacked on two more in the fourth with the help of two Storm errors when Kayler Prichard hit an RBI single and later scored on a wild pitch.

Schwartz singled and scored on an error, and Paezleigh Hudgin had an RBI single in the fifth to extend the Panthers’ lead to 5-0.

Schwartz finished 4 for 4 with two doubles, a run and an RBI.

“I thought we played great,” E-P coach Carl Weidel said. “We had one tough inning on defense. Otherwise, I felt like we played a really good game. We put a lot of balls in play and had a lot of hits. Our hitting really came around the second half of the year. I felt like our lineup was stacked. Their pitcher stepped up really well and held us down more than we’ve been held down lately.”

The Panthers finish 8-15.

“I’m really proud of these girls,” Weidel said. “I felt like we did pretty well. We had a lot of injuries to key players throughout the middle of the season that hurt us. We missed two weeks of games, but I felt like we were coming together and we maybe were going to make a run this postseason. I’m real proud of the girls. They have a chance to be real good next year.”