Stillman Valley players were smiling, joking and having fun all game.
And they left their long-time coach fighting back tears.
“I’ve only got a few years left. Every one of these means a lot,” Scott Wilhite said after an 11-4 win on top seed Marengo’s home field gave him his seventh regional title in 24 seasons as Stillman Valley’s baseball coach.
“He cares so much about us and we care so much about him,” winning pitcher Braden Engel said. “It’s awesome to see him have the success he’s used to having.”
As much as the Cardinals liked seeing their coach get choked up, Wilhite loved seeing his players enjoying themselves. One player yelled “I love you Braden” after Engel struck out the side in the second. Right fielder KJ Chavers chatted up the first base umpire before the final inning. “We’re a 4 seed by the way. You think we play like a 4 seed?” Chavers asked.
And Aiden Cicogna assumed the crane stance from “The Karate Kid” after two of his three hits.
“We have a blast,” said center fielder Jaxon Barrett, who had three hits and two RBIs. “Aiden before the game was making sure everyone was staying loose and had fun. That’s what it’s all about.”
“That’s what I preach,” Wilhite said. “We are out here to have fun. Don’t get me wrong, we’re competing and getting after it. But high school baseball is all about having fun and enjoying yourself. Celebrating. The kids being loud and into it is part of that. The kids embrace that. The coaches embrace that. It’s just something that we do here all the time.”
Stillman (21-12) had reason to celebrate early. They have been winning with pitching and defense, not hitting. But Kaenen McDevitt led off the game with a booming double, sparking a two-run first inning. Four more in the third gave Stillman a 6-0 lead. That was huge for a team that had not allowed more than three runs in its last nine games.
“Our struggles early in the year were we took a lot of pitches,” said Engel, who had three of the Cardinals’ 13 hits. “We went up there and swung at good pitches and hit the ball hard.”
And had fun.
“That’s a big thing, staying loose,” Engel said. “You are nervous because it’s a playoff game, but going out there and having fun means you are loose. It’s a lot easier to play well when you are relaxed.”
The Cardinals looked their most relaxed when Cicogna imitated a crane. That’s the team’s official celebration for hitting a single.
“We made that our single cel a couple of weeks ago,” said Cicogna, who scored three runs. “We had to change our old one up because we were losing some games. Ever since we’ve done it, we have won 10 of our 12 past games.”
It may be the team’s new adopted celebration, but Cicogna looked like the only one doing it Saturday.
“We’ve got to work on everyone doing it,” Engel said. “But he’s smoking the ball, so whatever is working for him, let’s keep that going.”
Stillman will now play Sterling Newman (22-4) at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Class 2A Byron Sectional.
Here are how other Rockford-area baseball teams fared in regional finals Saturday:
CLASS 2A
North Boone 4, Woodstock Marian 3
North Boone continued its winningest season in history by winning only its third regional title ever, and second in 30 years, in dramatic fashion at Richmond-Burton. The Vikings (25-8) scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth to tie the game and then won it in walk-off fashion on a two-out, two-strike single by Chris Doetch.
“We got the monkey off our back,” coach Andrew Baden said. “We were a good team but we don’t win in the postseason so now we’re just a good team.”
JJ Ford hit a two-run triple in the sixth and later scored to tie the game. An inning later, Eli Lopez was trying to steal second when Doetch crushed a line drive to center. The center fielder misplayed the one-hopper and Lopez scored the winning run from first when the ball bounced 15 feet away.
North Boone will play Port Byron Riverdale, which upset Big Northern champ Byron at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Byron Sectional.
Port Byron Riverdale 4, Byron 2
Byron led 2-0 until Riverdale (14-8) scored four runs in the top of the fifth, the last three on a 320-foot home run on a field shorter than Byron normally plays on. Byron (27-5), despite being the No. 1 seed, had to play the 3 seed on its home field because the IHSA picks regional sites before the season and goes by geography rather than seed when it comes to 3 and 4 seeds.
“It was a tough draw,” Byron coach Dale Hartman said, “but I still believe we were good enough to get it done. It just didn’t happen. It’s tough. You hurt for the kids. You hurt for all the hard work you put in. But I’ve always said baseball is the toughest sport come playoff time.”
CLASS 1A
Lena-Winslow 12, Rockford Lutheran 2
After a six-year drought, Le-Win won its second regional title in three years. Luke Madigan struck out nine and allowed only three hits in the five-inning win in the Lena-Winslow Regional. He also went 2-for-3 at the plate with 2 RBIs and 2 runs scored.
Lead-off hitter Cobryn Lynch had a home run, 3 RBIs and 2 runs scored for the No. 1-seeded Panthers (18-6). Koby Kearns was 2-for-2 with 3 RBIs and a run scored. Le-Win broke open a 5-2 game with seven runs in the bottom of the fifth to eliminate Lutheran (11-11) by the10-run rule. The NUIC North champs will now play NUIC champion Forreston at 4:30 Wednesday in the 1A Forreston Sectional.
Forreston 13, Ashton-Franklin Center 3
The top three hitters in Forreston’s lineup each had 2 RBIs, but No. 8 hitter Kaden Ganz had two hits and a team-high 3 RBIs and No. 6 hitter Daniel Koehl had a team-high three hits as the Cardinals won the A-FC Regional in five innings.
“Our 1 through 9 are tough outs,” Forreston coach Mike McClelland said. “Everyone is battling at the plate. Throughout the lineup, we’re getting a lot of different contributors. It’s tough to get us out for 7 innings. It doesn’t have to be our top guys.
Forreston (21-8) advances to host Lena-Winslow in its own sectional in Wednesday’s 4:30 p.m. semifinal.
Fulton 4, Eastland 3
Eastland (13-12) never led, but twice tied Fulton in the Fulton Regional. The Steamers went ahead again 4-3 in the bottom of the sixth. Eastland threatened in the seventh, but couldn’t score.
“We had a guy at third with two seniors up at the end; you don’t ask for much more,” Eastland coach Weston Burkholder said. “We had our chances. We made a couple of errors and a couple of poor decisions on fielder’s choices. That was pretty much the difference.”
Eastland ace Hunter Miller allowed only one earned run, but also made two of those errors. “We had our No. 1 on the mound and gave it our best chance,” Burkholder said. “We were just chasing a little bit all day.”
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