Triopia rallies past Illini Bluffs to win sectional thriller

May 31-With the Triopia softball team down to its last strike in the most important game of the best season in school history, No. 9 batter Sophya Ogden hit a single to right field with the bases loaded and two out in the top of the seventh inning to give the Trojans a 2-1 lead over top-seeded perennial powerhouse Glasford Illini Bluffs in the championship game of the Triopia Sectional on Friday.

Triopia went on to win the game 2-1.

"We were prepared to not give up," Ogden said.

Things looked bleak for the Trojans going into the seventh inning after Glasford Illini Bluffs had taken a 1-0 lead on a home run by Sara Finn off Trojans' ace Mylee Tracy in the bottom of the fifth. The Tigers' Cora Ellison had given up just three hits going into the seventh, retiring the top three hitters in Triopia's lineup in the sixth inning.

But then came the seventh. Mia McCombs hit a double to lead off the inning. Ellison rallied, retiring the next two batters on pop-ups. But after fouling off a couple of pitches and working the count full, No. 7 batter Kenzie Meyer walked.

Then on another 3-2 count, No. 8 batter Sophie Wells fouled off a pitch before walking to load the bases.

That brought up Ogden, who had gone 0-for-2 with a strikeout up to that point. Ogden took the first pitch for a strike, then swung and missed to put herself in an 0-2 hole. Three straight pitches out of the strike zone ran the count to 3-2. Ogden fouled off a pitch, then waited for another offering.

The big crowd went silent as the pitch headed for the plate.

"I just saw the pitch coming," Ogden said. "I knew I either had to foul it off or hit it. So, I hit it."

Ogden went with the pitch, popping the ball into right field. It dropped in front of the right fielder for a single. McCombs and Meyer both scored without a play to give the Trojans an improbable 2-1 lead.

"I was very excited," Ogden said, smiling. "I was so excited."

The bottom of the Trojans' lineup has produced all season, but especially in these playoffs. Ogden had two hits in a 4-0 win over Tremont in the regional championship game. She walked and scored a run in an 11-0 win over Liberty in the sectional semifinals.

"Amazing," Triopia coach Ty Gebhardt said. "Amazing. You can't put it into words, what we've been through. Ups and downs, and this and that. Down one to nothin' to a pitcher like that girl from Illini Bluffs. To come back and get two runs there in the top of the seventh, and they still had the hammer. Our character says enough for itself right there, coming back and not giving up."

Triopia improved to 30-1, adding to its school-record win total. The Trojans advance to Monday's Athens Super-Sectional to take on Okawville, which beat Carrollton 12-5 to win the Calhoun Sectional title on Friday. First pitch is at 4:30 p.m.

Tracy, overshadowed for once by the Trojans' heroics at the plate, pitched a masterful game, holding an Illini Bluffs team that had scored 17 runs in the sectional semifinals to just one run on six hits. She struck out 10 batters and walked only one.

"That was insane," Tracy said. "We had so much momentum going into it. And the top of our lineup struggled a little bit, but the bottom really came through."

Illini Bluffs threatened in the second, with two on and one out, but Tracy struck out the next two batters to end the inning. The Tigers had two on with two out in the third. A strikeout ended that inning. One on with two out in the fourth. Strikeout. Leadoff double in the sixth. Fly out, strikeout and a ground ball to shortstop Lucie Dion, who ranged behind second base to field the ball before firing to first to save the run, setting up the Trojans' big seventh-inning rally.

"I knew they were going to get hits," Tracy said. "They're a great hitting team. They've been hitting all year. So I really just had to stay calm and collected on the mound and trust my pitches."

Suddenly with a 2-1 lead, Tracy struck out the first batter she faced in the bottom of the seventh, then got the second out on a fly ball to McCombs in left. Finn followed with a single, but Tracy got the next batter on a ground ball right to Dion, who made the easy throw to first to end the game.

Illini Bluffs, which finished first or second in the State Final Tournament every year from 2019-24, ended its season with a record of 20-7.

Triopia, which lost three straight years in the regional championship game before winning a regional title last year, will play for the team's first trip ever to the IHSA State Final Tournament on Monday.

"We're so excited," Tracy said. "We've never been here before, and we're just going to try and have fun and enjoy it, and do what we've been doing all year."

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