We congratulate the winners of more than 80 state championship titles this year in Illinois high school events, as named by the Illinois High School Association. With almost 3,000 championship trophies awarded since 1892, counted in our database, the association has been at the forefront of extracurricular governance for more than 120 years.
The championships include the final two awarded this year in girls’ softball and boys’ baseball:
- Girls’ softball: Montini Catholic (Class 3A) and Oak Park-River Forest (4A)
- Boys’ baseball: Lemont (3A) and Providence Catholic (4A)
The 4A games in both softball and baseball had some excitement.
At Silver Cross Field in Joliet, the baseball final saw Mundelein taking an early lead, 3-1, after the first inning. Providence made some noise in subsequent innings, but in the fifth, following Zach Pych’s RBI on a pitch that hit him, an inside pitch that did not appear to be far outside the strike zone, the game was all Providence. They scored 5 runs in the fifth and added 4 in the sixth. The championship marked the New Lenox Catholic school’s fifth in baseball and the third consecutive title in the sport.
In East Peoria, Normal Community West, which has never won an IHSA state title, according to our compilation of data, was leading 2-0 after five innings. But Oak Park-River Forest added 1 run in the sixth and another in the seventh to tie the game, forcing extra innings. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Oak Park’s Fiona Girardot doubled with 2 outs and 2 runners on base, scoring both of them. Normal Community West couldn’t answer in their half of the 10th, and a very hot day in Illinois with four titles awarded, ended at about 10:30 PM at Eastside Centre.