IB seniors may be ‘chill’ but have a chance for red hot finish to careers

GLASFORD, Ill. (WMBD/WYZZ) — Illini Bluffs is right where it wants to be.

Playing important softball games in the month of May. The Tigers are used to this.

Seniors Annabelle Fortin and Morgan Lowe have learned a thing or two about playing meaningful games late in the season from past team leaders.

“I think Annabelle and I are different than they were,” said Lowe. “We’re more chill. I feel like we are the most chill seniors.”

The team follows the lead of its seniors. If they’re relaxed, the team is relaxed.

Even when playing pressure-packed games in the postseason. In the past three years, the IB seniors have played on two state championship teams and one state runner-up.

“We’ve been through all this before,” said Fortin. “(Experience) calms our nerves. We’ve been on that stage before. Now we know what to expect.”

Lowe and Fortin are in a unique situation. If Illini Bluffs advances to the state title game, those seniors will play in the state championship in all four years of high school.

It’s quite the motivation for this postseason.

“It would be an amazing way to end my high school career at Illini Bluffs,” said Lowe. “It’s never been done before. We’ve already been a part of so much history. To finish it out like that would be amazing.”

IB (22-1) hosts Pleasant Hill (27-5) in a class 1A sectional championship game Friday. A Tigers win would send the team to a Monday super-sectional and they’d be one win away from a return to state.

“We won a state championship in junior high,” Fortin said. “I remember my dad sat me down at the table and said, ‘Now Annabelle, it’s not every day you get to go to state. Don’t get your hopes up that you get to go all the time in high school.’ Look where we are now.”

IB took second in state in 2019 and then the 2020 season was canceled in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. So a trip to this year’s state championship game would mark the fifth straight season the Tigers would play for the state title.

“I’m trying not to get ahead of myself but I can’t wait to see what happens,” said Fortin. “I hope it does happen.”

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