Underdog Gardner-South Wilmington earns program’s first state bid with 2-0 upset of Macon Meridian

The Gardner-South Wilmington softball program has enjoyed a lot of success dating back to the 1980s.

With their 2-0 upset of Macon Meridian in the Class 1A Illinois Wesleyan Supersectional at Bloomington’s Inspiration Field on Monday, the 2026 Panthers are enjoying something no other GSW softball team has enjoyed before.

They’re heading to state.

“It’s actually insane,” said senior ace Maddie Simms, who pitched seven shutout innings Monday and made GSW’s two second-inning runs hold up. “I can’t even believe it. Just going all the way, it’s crazy. I couldn’t be prouder. I couldn’t be more happy.

“I’m so happy, and I’m even happier that I get to do it with my friends.”

Simms’ friends had a hand in Monday’s victory.

It was the Panthers’ third win this postseason against a team seeded higher than them and second over a subsectional No. 1 seed. They advance to the Class 1A State semifinal against downstate Waltonville at 12:15 p.m. Thursday at Peoria’s Louisville Slugger Complex.

Seeded third in their subsectional, Gardner-South Wilmington (27-11) is the only non-No. 1 seed in 1A’s final four.

The heroics that got it there began in the first inning. After back-to-back hard-hit singles off Simms by Meridian’s Shelby Renfro and Morgan Knierim to open the game, Meridian gifted GSW the first out of the game with a pop-up bunt.

A passed ball allowed the runners to move to second and third, but a rare double play erased the threat. Ashley Schelling’s deep fly out to GSW left fielder Liv Siano was caught and thrown on a rope to catcher Kayla Scheuber to cut down Renfro at home for the third out after she tried to tag up.

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The Gardner-South Wilmington softball team celebrates with their Class 1A Illinois Wesleyan Supersectional plaque after defeating Meridian 2-0 Monday June 1, 2026 at Inspiration Field at Carol Willis Park in Bloomington. (Mason Schweizer)

Meridian had only two more hits and did not get another runner past second base against Simms (7 IP, 0 R, 4 H, 0 BB, 10 K). Siano had a nice catch in the sixth, followed by a diving catch on a line drive by third baseman Bree Stein to start the third.

“I feel like once you see that your defense is playing so well behind you, it’s easy,” Simms said. “It gave me a lot of confidence to just throw around the zone, let them hit it, and let my defense work.

“I think I settled in pretty well.”

“I’m riding that senior horse,” GSW coach Matt Finn said of Simms. “Twice in the playoffs [Simms has] told me to go back and sit on my bucket. ‘I’ve got it, and I’m going to mow ’em down.’ As a coach, how could you not love that?

“She’s the sweetest girl. You want her babysitting your kids. But you don’t want to be in that circle with her. She’ll run you over and back over you.”

Gardner-South Wilmington's Bree Stein makes a diving catch in the Class 1A Illinois Wesleyan Supersectional against Meridian at Inspiration Field at Willis Park in Bloomington Monday, June 1, 2026. — Gardner-South Wilmington's Bree Stein makes a diving catch in the Class 1A Illinois Wesleyan Supersectional against Meridian at Inspiration Field at Willis Park in Bloomington on Monday, June 1, 2026. (Mason Schweizer)

Finn’s run support came early, and Scheuber – who was on the back end of the game-changing double play to end the top of the first – started the fun. Her sharply hit ground ball single past Meridian pitcher Schelling (6 IP, 2 R, 1 ER, 4 H, 0 BB, 7 K) in the second was followed by three bunts, a Stein RBI and two Meridian errors.

When the dust settled, the Panthers had two runs and, with the way Simms was dealing and the defense was shining, were on their way to the state semifinals.

“Kayla got the big hit for us,” Finn said. “Then we just tried to put pressure on their defense. We knew we’d be in trouble with their pitcher, and I’m glad we found a way to get a couple runs there.”

“I was looking for the first opportunity to hit.” Scheuber said, “And as soon as I got the first strike, I was on it. I wasn’t waiting.

“I was pretty nervous coming here, but after the first three innings, I was like, ‘You know, we’ve really got a shot. We can do this.’ ”

The two errors committed by Meridian (26-9) in the second, the only two they had in the game, proved to be the difference.

“It’s something that we work on every day in practice, bunt coverages, handling that situation,” said Meridian coach Greg Streeval, whose Hawks finish the final season of his 28-year career at 26-9. “I just think we were tight and we didn’t get where we were supposed to be and didn’t make the plays.”