Elite Eight-bound: Peoria-area Class 1A and 2A softball teams headed to the supers

HAVANA — Illini Bluffs has made it an Elite Eight four-peat.

For the fourth consecutive season, No. 4 Illini Bluffs will play in the Class 1A softball Elite Eight, beating host Havana, 7-3 in Friday's Class 1A sectional title game. The two-time reigning state champion Tigers (23-5) advance to the 11 a.m. Monday supersectional in Athens and face Carrollton.

As it has done for most of the season, IB brought its bats in hoisting the program's seventh sectional championship. The Tigers had eight hits paced by two each from Sara Finn, Zoe Eeten and Lexi Brinkman.

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Eeten's RBI double and a two-run single by Annabelle Fortin provided the Tigers with a 3-0 cushion after the first inning. In the third, IB added three more runs thanks to an RBI single from Chloe Eeten and a two-run scoring base hit by Finn.

Those half-dozen runs were all pitcher Cora Ellison would need. She tossed a two-hitter with two strikeouts and two walks in 6.1 innings.

Havana (21-7), which had lost to IB, 6-3 on May 4, got doubles from Hannah Hodgson and Jaydn Stone.

CLASS 2A: Rockridge 12, Tremont 2

TAYLOR RIDGE — Tremont once again ran into the Rockridge roadblock.

The Turks lost to host Taylor Ridge Rockridge for a fifth successive postseason, falling 12-2 in five innings at Friday's Class 2A sectional final. Tremont ends its season at 19-8, while the two-time reigning state champ Rockets (35-1) advance to the 11 a.m. Monday supersectional at EastSide Centre against Rock Falls.

Despite trailing 3-0 entering the bottom of the second, Tremont responded with a crooked number, plating a pair off the bat of Maia Lorengo. The No. 6 hitter smacked a two-run home run to right field, scoring Erin Pulliam, who led off with a single.

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That was the last of Tremont's hits and only the beginning of top-ranked Rockridge's offensive tear. The Rockets scored nine more runs off four homers.

Lorengo lasted 3.2 innings with three strikeouts, eight hits and one walk.

CLASS 1A: St. Bede 3, West Central 1

PERU — St. Bede exacted a little sectional championship revenge.

After losing to Biggsville West Central at this stage last season, the host Bruins came out with a 3-1 win over WC on Friday in a Class 1A sectional championship game. No. 13 St. Bede (25-7) heads to the 11 a.m. Monday supersectional in Sterling to face Orangeville.

Ella Hermes provided St. Bede with its only runs, hitting a three-run, opposite-field homer in the third inning. This was the first home run of the season for the winning pitcher, who struck out 10 and scattered four hits.

This St. Bede's fourth Elite Eight berth and first since a 2019 third-place finish.

Adam Duvall is a Journal Star sports reporter. Email him at aduvall@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @AdamDuvall.