EAST PEORIA — Kevin Hayhurst really knows how to celebrate another trip to the softball state finals.
Following a 4-3, 10-inning Class 2A East Peoria Supersectional victory June 2 over Brimfield/Elmwood, the longtime Beecher coach was swigging a lime shaved-ice dessert his daughter Emily picked up for him from an EastSide Centre vendor.
“I was so thirsty, I was so dry,” the elder Hayhurst said.
It wasn’t quite a Gatorade bath, but something sweet was in order following a game that could have gone sour for the Bobcats (35-2). A 3-0 lead disappeared after Brimfield/Elmwood scored three times in the sixth inning. The Indians had the lead run in scoring position in the seventh, ninth and 10th.
But in relief, Beecher junior pitcher Taylor Norkus kept the game even. Then she used her bat to end it.
On the first pitch she saw from Brimfield/Elmwood junior Sawyer Drury in the bottom of the 10th , with the bases loaded and two outs, Norkus lined a single up the middle to score pinch-runner Carmela Irwin with the winning run.
“I was looking for one pitch, and it was there, and I’m so glad that I got that,” said Norkus, a Colgate recruit. “I was hoping and praying that it would hit the ground so my team could score.”
Allie Johnson, Elena Kvasnicka and Makenzie Johnson had successive two-out hits before Norkus’ heroics. That secured the Bobcats’ eighth state trophy, all won during Hayhurst’s 23 seasons as coach.
Senior-less Brimfield-Elmwood, located just west of Peoria, finished 33-4 in its deepest state-tournament advancement since a second-place 2A finish in 2015. But in the beginning of this game, it appeared the Indians might be overmatched.
Florida State recruit Ava Lorenzatti and Johnson hit RBI doubles over the center fielder’s head to give Beecher a 2-0 lead. An error on a third-base steal by Liliana Irwin allowed her to make it 3-0 in the second.
But Drury, who is committed to Creighton, settled down after that. Lorenzatti permitted only one hit through five innings, but the first five Brimfield/Elmwood batters combined to score three times in the sixth.
“I had seen her in grade school. That was back before she was Ava Lorenzatti,’’ Brimfield/Elmwood coach Kurt Juerjens said. “But she’s really good. For us to battle back against her, I thought it showed a lot.”
At that point, Hayhurst decided to change pitchers. Out came Lorenzatti and in came Norkus.
“I just didn’t want them to get the lead on us,” Hayhurst said. “I thought the new pitcher coming in, we could hold them at least one time through the lineup. With the way she throws her changeup, it’s tough to see the first time.”
Brimfield/Elmwood loaded the bases later in the sixth but didn’t score again. Norkus struck out eight, Lorenzatti six.
“We don’t play many teams that play them, so we didn’t have much information on them,” Lorenzatti said. “So we really didn’t know what to expect. But we came in with an open mind and just ready to be flexible as the game (went) on, because we didn’t know what we were getting ourselves into.”