BLOOMINGTON -- After a sluggish start Saturday, O'Fallon's offense proved too tough to contain.
The Panthers spotted Moline a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first, then hit the Maroons with a six-run second en route to a 10-5 victory in the championship game of the Class 4A Bloomington Sectional at Illinois Wesleyan University.
Six different players had RBIs in O'Fallon's big inning: seniors Brad Taake, Keith Wolf, Kyle Stanton and Nick Tindall, junior Miles Quintal and sophomore Sam Summerlin. Moline needed three pitchers to get through the inning.
"This whole offense, all season, that's what's carried us," said first baseman Stanton, who was 3-for-5 with a double and three RBIs. "Our pitching has held up and our offense has just exploded in the postseason all of a sudden."
The Panthers (30-9), who have scored 41 runs in four postseason games, will play Naperville Central at 5 p.m. Monday in the Bloomington Super-Sectional, also at Illinois Wesleyan. Naperville Central defeated Providence Catholic 5-4 in the championship game of the Lockport Sectional on Saturday.
Moline (25-11-1) jumped ahead against senior left-hander Jon Levin on bases-empty homers by senior Grant Jasper and junior Thomas Lindauer.
But the Panthers then erupted against senior left-hander Ryan Hendricks and senior reliever Dakota Bacus.
Taake had an RBI single on a perfectly executed hit-and-run play to open the scoring. Summerlin followed with an RBI infield single, Wolf was hit by a pitch to force in another run and Stanton singled to left to make it 4-2. Tindall's sacrifice fly made it 5-2 and Quintal walked to push home the final run.
Sophomore Ryan Archer relieved and retired Taake to finally end the inning.
Stanton said he wasn't concerned after Moline's early home runs.
"That's not a big deal to us," he said. "We've played from behind before and we know what it takes to get back in it, and we did it.
"This is great. This postseason, as a whole, has been unbelievable."
O'Fallon coach Jason Portz, like Stanton, was certain his players would rebound.
"That's something we haven't seen in this postseason --to have to battle back," Portz said. "As a matter of fact, we haven't seen that for maybe the last 15 ballgames of the season, where we had to play from behind.
"We've got a senior-laden bunch, and in that inning, we made a lot of things happen. A lot of kids could have went in the tank after getting down and giving up two big bombs like we gave up. Our guys just hit through the middle of the ball. We continued to take a good approach and worried about getting on base."
Quintal added a solo homer in the sixth against Archer, part of a perfect day at the plate that included a walk and two hit by pitches.
There were two other critical points in the game for the Panthers.
After Moline cut O'Fallon's lead to 6-3 on an RBI single by senior Kevin Shedd in the fourth --the Maroons' third straight hit against Levin.
Levin rallied by striking out senior Derek Dye for the first out, but junior Caleb Spiegel walked to load the bases. Levin struck out Jasper on a curveball, and O'Fallon catcher Tindall then picked off Spiegel at first to end the inning.
"The second pitch, I signaled to Kyle, he signaled back and Jon Levin saw the signal, so he threw the ball a little off the plate so I could get a chance to send it down to first," Tindall said. "It was definitely a momentum shift."
Portz agreed.
"That's what Nick Tindall does," he said. "He controls the game. I think he's the best player in the state, without question."
O'Fallon took a 9-3 lead in the fifth on an error by shortstop Lindauer and a two-run single by Stanton. But Moline got within 9-4 in the fifth on Lindauer's second homer of the game, and the Maroons still had the bases loaded with one out.
That's when junior Alex Young relieved Levin, and Young came up big with swinging strikeouts of Shedd and Dye.
"Alex was great today," Portz said. "If he's able to throw his breaking ball for a strike like he did. ... His breaking ball is dominating and he located his fastball. That's what you want to do whenever you come in relief in that situation --pump the zone. Alex has been able to do that for us all year."
Young worked the final 2 2/3 innings for the save. He allowed a run in the sixth, but walked none and struck out four.
"You've got to give the kid credit," Moline coach Derek Lindauer said of Young's escape in the fifth. "Maybe he's that good. Give the coach credit. He's got to have confidence in him to go to a guy with the bases loaded ... and he got strikeout, strikeout."
Levin (9-3) surrendered nine hits and four runs (earned) in 4 1/3 innings, with three walks and six strikeouts.
"It's not everything the seniors want," Portz said of the sectional championship. "It's just a stepping-stone. It's part of their goal. I think they respect it; they have a great deal of respect for the accomplishment. But they certainly don't want to be done. We want to play three more quality ballgames if possible."
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