MARENGO, Ill.—The moment that North Boone center fielder Olivia Johnson secured Marissa Young’s fly out into the center of her glove, catcher Danielle Goodman was sprinting towards the pitching circle.
Goodman embraced pitcher Cami Carter in a bear hug before the rest of the Vikings swarmed the duo.
For Carter, Goodman and the other three seniors, Friday evening’s 9-3 win over Marengo in an IHSA 2A Regional Championship meant so much more than keeping their season alive.
It was about finally winning a title that had eluded the group time and time again over the last three seasons.
“It’s a surreal feeling,” Goodman said. “We’ve waited so, so long. All season we’ve had this belief energy and all of us felt really strongly about our abilities. Coming out on top means the world, it’s just insane.”
This North Boone senior class went 62-17 in its three seasons and won a Big Northern Conference title in its sophomore year, but it fell in the regional championship at the end of every one of those seasons.
The fourth-seeded Vikings (25-4) edged Johnsburg 2-0 on Wednesday to advance to the regional title game against the top-seeded Indians (25-7), who they outhit 10-6 and got a strong effort from Carter in the circle to move on to sectionals.
“This group of seniors have just worked their tails off for four years and come so close,” North Boone head coach Tim Fleming said. “To get over that hump is very special. I've had some great classes that have almost won it, but being with this group to win our first regional championship, it's really special.”
“It means a lot to us,” Carter added. “We've come to the regional championship for the past five, six years now. To finally just be able to get over it and not lose by one, (which happened almost) every single time, feels so great.”
And it was a massive turnaround from when North Boone faced Marengo on March 16th, an 11-1 loss.
“We struggled hitting off of these pitchers,” Carter said. So, to come in here and actually hit and just be able to do what we did, it's wonderful.”
In addition to her impact with her arm, Carter had a big part in the win from the plate.
Tied at two at the top of the fifth inning, the senior blasted a leadoff solo home run over the center field fence off Indians’ starter Lilly Kunzer for the go-ahead run.
“I felt it coming,” Carter said of her homer. “That pitcher, I had timed her up. I popped one up to the right fielder the last my last at bat and after that, I just felt it. And them switching the pitcher after that just made me feel ten times better.”
Goodman said it definitely felt good to see her friend break the tie.
“It's so cool seeing our upperclassmen really dominate this year,” she said. “Our underclassmen are killing it, but it's just so deserving.”
From there, Carter ensured she would keep the Vikings in front. After allowing a two-run homer to Grace Christopher in the second inning, an RBI groundout from Christopher in the sixth was the only other scoring that the pitcher would allow. And that run was unearned as scoring runner Kylee Jensen had reached on catcher’s interference before moving to third on a double.
“Cami's really just been in control of the circle the last half of the year,” Fleming said. “Since our win against Stillman Valley, she has taken it to another level. And that's the level you need when you're in the postseason. She really commanded the zone today and attacked a good hitting lineup.”
Carter finished allowing three runs (two earned) on six hits while not issuing a walk and striking out eight in seven innings. She cited her screwball and riseball as part of her arsenal that was working well on Friday.
“I was actually really surprised, I was not really nervous whatsoever,” she said. “I trust my team. They have my back like they did today. That's all that really counts is I throw where it needs to go and they make the plays.”
That trust was even more important after a few early missed opportunities early in the game. North Boone left the bases loaded in the first and stranded two runners again in the second before Christopher’s home run put Marengo in front 2-0.
The Vikings also committed three errors throughout the game, but they never let any mistakes affect their next play.
“All week we were talking about that whatever happens, we gotta rebound and we gotta just continue to play like us and play our game,” Goodman said. “We did that, and picking each other up was a huge thing.”
Goodman made it 2-1 with her solo homer to center field with one out in the third.
“I was on deck, and I was like, ‘You know what? We just need something small. We got to get something going,’” she said. “It just flew. And I'm grateful for it.”
North Boone tied it at two in the fourth when Marlee Alderman walked, moved to second on Sydney Goodman’s two-out single and scored when Indians’ catcher Jensen overthrew first trying to pick the runner off. Goodman was thrown out but Carter put the Vikings ahead for good in the next inning.
Abby Galarza went 2-for-4 while Olivia Johnson also had two hits, including a two-run double later in the fifth that made it 5-2.
Avarie Torres crushed a grand slam to center field in the sixth to up the lead to 9-2 and give the Vikings plenty of breathing room.
“I don’t think anybody's been hotter than Avarie in the second half of the season,” Fleming said. She’s been working her tail off, and she’s surprised some teams. She started off a little slow for us, but she's been confident and just hitting a lot of line drives.”
“The person I don't think got enough credit was Avarie,” Carter added. “She hit an absolute bomb. And I know it takes a lot for her to do that too, bases loaded and to hit a home run, no pressure whatsoever, that was great.”
The Vikings return to Marengo on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. for a sectional semifinal showdown against Manlius’ Bureau Valley (16-9), who as the seventh seed upset No. 3 Princeton 6-5.
“We'll take a couple days and let them celebrate then we'll get back to work,” Fleming said. “These guys had their goals set pretty high, I know they're not satisfied with this. They’re going to continue to work hard.”
• LINESCORE:
NORTH BOONE 9, MARENGO 3
NB 001 134 0— 9 10 3
Mar 020 001 0 — 3 6 3
Leading hitters: NB, Goodman 1x5, 1 Run; Stefek 1x4, 1 Run; Carter 1x3, 1 Run; Goodman 1x2, 3 Runs, 1 RBI; Torres 1x3, 1 Run, 4 RBI; Galarza 2x4, 1 Run; Alderman 1x3, 1 Run; Johnson 2x4, 2 RBI. Mar, Young 2x4; Jense 1x2, 2 Runs; Christopher 1x3, 1 Run, 3 RBI.
Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): NB, Carter (W) 7.0-6-3-2-0-8. Mar, Kunzer (L) 4.0-6-3-2-4-2, Christiansen 3.0-4-6-2-2-4.
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