For the third time in four games on Friday, Mia Volpert pitched the Tri-County Senior League softball team to a win in the Senior League Softball Central Region.
The win stamped the Illinois District 17 team back into the Senior League Softball World Series for a third year in a row. Now, the goal for the players — combined from towns in and around Springfield and based out of Beardstown — is to defend their World Series championship from a year ago .
The District 17 champion, which went on to win the state tournament before it headed to the regional in Lexington, Kentucky, went 4-0 in the regional, with two straight wins over the Ohio representative.
“I don’t want to say easier,” District 17 coach Tom Orr said of this year’s path. “We’re playing good softball. It’s just a different team, so it took me a little bit to get used to the girls. I think things are starting to work out, and everyone’s finding their spot and their niche.”
Volpert also said it’s more complicated than just saying experience at this level makes things easier. There’s a mixture, she said.
“I think, to some extent, it feels harder because there’s an expectation set now. We set a pretty high standard last year, winning the whole tournament, and we want to get there again,” Volpert said. “But at the same time, it’s almost easier because we’re more mature and we know what to expect on the field.”
The team is now in Roxana, Delaware and will play the West Region champion, Hawaii, on Monday at 7 p.m. Central to begin pool play. All games are streamed live on ESPN Plus. On Tuesday, Tri-County will face the Southeast Region champions, out of South Carolina at 2 p.m., then the Canada representative from Calgary, Alberta at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday. On Thursday, Tri-County will face the Europe-Africa Regional winner, out of The Netherlands, at 4:30 p.m. Pool play crossover games are Friday, semifinals are Saturday, and the championship game is on Sunday at 6 p.m.
In the championship game, Volpert — who will be a senior at Springfield High School in the fall — struck out four and allowed two unearned runs on three hits and no walks in six innings as Tri-County beat Ohio 9-2. Pawnee junior Ava Rodriguez and Havana junior Kaydi Miller each homered. Rodriguez hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the fourth to give Tri-County an 8-2 lead.
For her part at the plate, Volpert was 2-for-3 while catcher Taryn Griffith, a senior at Chatham Glenwood, was 2-for-4 with an RBI. Griffith, in her second season with the club, said the comfort level with her teammates and coaches have made this go-around even better.
Orr thought the team would have a peaceful trip from Lexington to Delaware, but on Friday, he was told that there was a change of plans and the team needed to commute to Cincinnati for its flight to Philadelphia. There’s nothing to stymie a celebration like a 3 a.m. wake-up call the next day.
“Normally in the past, we’ve been done with two or three days between the last day and the travel day,” Orr said. “This year, the tournament ended the day before the travel day. We think we’re flying out of Lexington, so we come here and get hotels. (Little League officials) told me we’re flying out of Cincinnati, and I said, ‘Nobody told me that; they told me we were flying out of Lexington.”
The Illinois winners opened regional play with an 11-1 win over Michigan on Tuesday. Griffith and Rushville-Industry junior Italee Ford each drove in three runs while Rodriguez was 3-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored. Ford homered while Griffith doubled. Volpert struck out eight in the win.
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On Wednesday, Tri-County took down the hosts 16-0 in just four innings. Ford had two homers and four RBIs while Addie Seitz, a senior at Biggsville West Central, homered and drove in five. Seitz also struck out seven in her four-inning win.
The following day, Rodriguez had a whopping eight RBIs and hit 3-for-4 with two home runs — including a grand slam in the second to give Tri-County a 7-1 lead in an eventual 13-2 five-inning win. Volpert allowed one run on two hits in four innings. Ohio then beat Michigan in the double-elimination tournament to have another shot against Illinois, and then though they kept it a little closer, Tri-County still pulled out a 9-2 win to advance to the World Series.
“We’ve still got four solid pitchers, our hitting is just as good as it was last year — just a couple different pieces — girls have matured and aged a year and they’ve gotten stronger,” Orr said. “It just seems like this team hits the ball harder than last year.”
Only once the team qualified to get back to the World Series could they discuss it, said Griffith, in her second season with the club.
“We made a pact that we would not talk about Delaware at regionals because we couldn’t get overconfident,” Griffith said.
Nine players are back from last year’s team, but the new additions blended perfectly, Volpert said.
“I think most of us have meshed really well,” Volpert said. “More girls have played on the same travel ball teams or the same school ball teams, so a lot of us know each other already.”
During the high school season, Griffith and Volpert are each competing for the Central State Eight Conference title, but their friendship goes back much further, Griffith said. That allows the battery-mates to have synchronized chemistry during games.
“Me and Mia go way back,” Griffith said. “We played each other when we were 10 years old, then we’ve played on the same competitive team and now we’re fricking conference rivals. I used to catch her two or three years ago in competitive ball, so playing with her isn’t a new aspect.”
Last year, Illinois District 17 beat defending champion Texas 5-4 to win the title.
Contact Ryan Mahan: 788-1546, ryan.mahan@sj-r.com , Twitter.com/RyanMahanSJR.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Central Illinois team back at Senior League Softball World Series, looks to defend title
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