Prep Notebook - Prep sports year comes to a close

Monday's baseball super-sectionals closed the book on another year of prep sports with Goreville and Pinckneyville falling in the Class 1A and 2A games.

Although completely out of my control, I achieved the goal of crossing off one state tournament I haven't been to from my list when NCOE volleyball placed third in Class 1A.

I also had the pleasure of heading back to some familiar state tournaments, following Goreville boys basketball, Waltonville/Sesser-Valier softball, and Carterville softball to their respective state tourneys.

And following the tradition of the last two years, we came back home with a state championship, with this year's being the Lions for the second time in three years.

It was an incredible year for Carterville, which finished its season 39-1. The Lions' only loss came to Chatham Glenwood, the Class 3A runner-up.

Individually, senior pitcher Caidence Phillips had such a ridiculous season that she was named Illinois' Gatorade Softball Player of the year. Phillips pitched in 26 games, going 24-0. She struck out a whopping 324 hitters, while walking only 17 in 145 innings.

The most outrageous stat, though, is her 0.10 earned-run average. Phillips gave up six runs all season, but only two were earned.

Phillips pitched complete games in both of the Lions' state tournament games. She shut out Williamsville in the semifinals with 15 strikeouts. In Saturday's state championship against Seneca, she gave up one unearned run with nine strikeouts.

Simply incredible.

Speaking of gutsy state tournament performances, Waltonville/Sesser-Valier junior pitcher Elyssa Schoenbaechler put the Spartans on her back in their semifinal and championship games.

In Thursday's semifinal, Schoenbaechler threw out a 10-inning gem, holding Gardner-South Wilmington to only one run on four hits while patiently waiting for the Spartans' offense to give her a second run of support to win.

Just two days later, she threw all seven innings in the championship game. Even though her one mistake led to Dakota scoring their second and game-winning run, Schoenbaechler did everything in her power to lead WSV to its first state title in its first state appearance.

For the season, Schoenbaechler was essentially the Spartans' whole pitching staff. She pitched in 32 of the Spartans' 40 games, throwing 202 innings with 262 strikeouts and 71 walks.

It was another fun and exciting year of prep sports, as were my first two years. Now, it's time to rest somewhat until fall sports season rolls around and do it all over again.

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This story was originally published June 11, 2026 at 1:45 AM.