PEORIA — By the time Tayiah Scanlan came to the plate for the fifth time in Beecher’s epic 5-2 win in the IHSA Class 2A softball state final on June 7, it had been raining off and on for three hours.
The Louisville Slugger Complex’s artificial turf was slick and softballs were being swapped in and out of the game on almost every at-bat in a futile attempt to keep them dry.
Beecher, playing defending champ Carterville, started the top of the 10th inning by putting the first two runners on. Alexa Gliva led off with a walk and Abrianne Papas reached when her sacrifice bunt led to a Lions error.
That set the stage for Scanlan, who had one hit in her first four at-bats. What was on her mind?
“My last at-bat, my travel-ball coach, Steve Gliva, was sitting behind the on-deck circle,” Scanlan said. “And every single time I go up to bat, he always tells me, “Stay balanced, make contact.’ And then that same at-bat, coach Hay (Kevin Hayhurst) — there was a timeout so he called me over, and he’s like, ‘You can see they’re in on you. Just make contact with the ball.’”
That earlier at-bat, in the eighth, ended with a popout.
“The next at-bat comes around, those same things are in my mind,” Scanlan said. “‘Make contact, stay balanced.’”
She did, and the rest is history.
Scanlan rifled a hard grounder just inside the third-base bag and Carterville’s left fielder slipped on the wet turf going after the ball. Hayhurst, in the third-base coaching box, was in windmill mode, waving around first Gliva, then Papas and finally Scanlan.
The official scorer ruled it a single and an error, but that hardly mattered to Scanlan or the Bobcats. Colgate-bound senior Taylor Norkus retired the Lions in order in the bottom of the 10th and Beecher (37-2) had its fifth state title and sixth state trophy, all under Hayhurst.
There was no shortage of heroes for the Bobcats. Norkus (17-1) got the win with five innings of scoreless, one-hit relief. She struck out nine.
Florida State commit Ava Lorenzatti started in the circle and also pitched five innings, allowing two runs, five hits and a walk while fanning five. She also tied the score 2-2 in the sixth, following Ava Olson’s infield single with a mammoth two-run homer to right.
“I never really try to swing for the fences,” said Lorenzatti, who led the Bobcats with eight home runs. “… I just try to get my same swing, and then I try to look for a certain pitch. … The at-bat prior to the home run, I hit one deep (for a flyout). And that was on a changeup. I was thinking, if there was a little more power behind that pitch — that was so close.
“And then the next at-bat, I saw my pitch and I was like, ‘Perfect.’ I felt it right off the bat.”
Splitting up the pitching between the team’s two aces has been a habit for Hayhurst in the postseason as the Bobcats navigated a challenging postseason path that included another 10-inning win against Brimfield/Elmwood in the supersectional.
The contrast in styles between Lorenzatti’s riseball and Norkus’ changeup consistently had opposing hitters tied up in knots. Norkus slid into the relief role seamlessly.
Her mindset: “Just to relax and do my best, because that’s all I can do.”
Norkus was prepared to pitch longer, but knew she wouldn’t have to as soon as Scanlan made contact in the 10th.
“I was like, ‘Oh my God, this is it,’” Norkus said. “Like, we got it.”
This was Beecher’s first IHSA state title since 2019. But hoisting the ultimate trophy is nothing new for these Bobcats.
“We won a couple state-championship games in middle school with this same group,” Lorenzatti said. “Being at high school, the next level, the bigger level — it’s just that much more important.
“Just to recreate that feeling, but even a little more intensified, just means everything to us.”
