By Bobby Narang –
Two years ago, the Montini Catholic High School girls softball team had a rather easy two games at the State tournament on the way to a Class 3A championship.
Montini Catholic photo
The Broncos defeated Carmel and Washington by a combined 16-3 score to notch the program’s first State championship.
Last weekend, the Broncos returned to East Peoria with similar intentions. Instead of two easy games, the Broncos scored three runs in the top of the fifth inning to pull out a 3-2 victory over Mt. Zion in Friday’s State semifinal.
Saturday, the Broncos took an even harder path. They scored 12 runs in the top of the seventh inning to pull out a stunning 15-8 triumph over Kaneland in the 3A State championship game.
The Broncos fell behind 7-0 after three innings, but managed to avoid a 10-run rule and four innings later, they mounted one of the best comebacks in State history.
“A State championship is a State championship and they are all so special, but to deal with this, something I haven’t seen before in 34 years, it’s unbelievable,” Montini head coach Mike Bukovsky said.
Ironically, Kaneland defeated Montini in similar fashion in a regular season meeting May 4. The Knights trailed 10-2 in the sixth inning, but stormed back to pull out an 11-10 victory.
The Broncos, 30-9, were led by Lauren Latoria’s three hits and four RBIs, while Alyssa Filkowski added four hits and four RBIs. In all, the Broncos had 15 hits, including nine hits in the seventh inning.
Allyson Dilday, 6-4, came on in relief to gain the victory, while Emilee Erickson, 20-5, suffered the loss for Kaneland.
“Winning at State twice is special and something I thought would never happen,” Latoria said. “This was a crazy game with a crazy ending.”
The Knights, 27-10, defeated Providence, 8-1, in the semifinal in the program’s third appearance at the State tournament. In 2015, the Knights placed third. Donatela Sommesi paced the Knights with three hits and two RBIs while scoring four times against the Broncos.
• In Class 4A softball, Plainfield North took second place after falling to champion Rock Island, 2-1, in the final. Palatine beat York for third place, 2-0. In the semifinals, Plainfield North defeated Palatine, 7-0, and Rock Island defeated York, 3-1.