Tenacious Trevians proud of state tournament performances

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Updated: August 4, 2011 4:20PM

EAST PEORIA — At the softball complex at EastSide Centre, the scoreboard was less than accommodating to New Trier.

Sure, the Trevians lost two tough games in Class 4A competition to finish fourth, marking the third time in the last six years under coach John Caldwell the Trevians have brought home a trophy.

More important is what the games said about the resiliency, toughness and camaraderie of the talented though young team. The Trevians were tied in the bottom of the seventh with powerhouse St. Charles North before losing Friday’s semifinal on a walk-off home run. 

In the third-place game on Saturday, the Trevians jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead but could not sustain it. Benet defeated the Trevians 7-4.

Still, the games themselves were often electrifying. New Trier came home a team happy for its in-season turnaround and very much looking forward to the future.

New Trier (23-13) lost its first four games and started the year 2-6. Caldwell had several key players returning from a 31-8 supersectional qualifier.

“At the beginning of the year, we had a lot of new players at different positions and it took a while before we found ourselves,” junior second baseman Jackie Stern said.

Stern stood out in the third-place game. She was a ballerina in the infield, making one spectacular defensive play after one another.

“She did a great job of stopping the other team from making big rallies,” New Trier junior ace Brigit Ieuter said.

The almost-sheepish Stern was quick to deflect the praise.

“I was able to make some plays out there, but our whole defense has played great, especially in the (state) tournament. The thing is, we came into the tournament underdogs. We weren’t on anybody’s radar, but we came ready to fight and know that regardless of what happened we were going to leave it all on the line.”

Caldwell called Ieuter’s scintillating performance against St. Charles North, holding the hard-hitting North Stars to just four hits, her most impressive of the year.

“And she’s had no-hitters,” he said.

New Trier dispelled any thoughts of an emotional letdown in the first inning. Stern had two hits and scored the opening run on Leah Herlocker’s RBI single in the first inning of the third-place game. Ieuter retired the first seven Benet hitters. Mimi Morris added another RBI single for the 2-0 advantage. Benet stormed back in the third inning, stringing together five hits and scoring four runs.

Ieuter (17-9) struck out six and walked two. The Redwings amassed 14 hits, momentarily a state record. It was a misleading statistic as Benet did not hit her especially hard.

“The kids got into it right away and started out well,” Caldwell said.

“Benet had a lot of balls that had eyes,” Caldwell said. “They found the holes and just put the ball where we couldn’t get to it.“

With pluck and tenacity, New Trier battled until the very end. The team’s star hitter, first baseman Chelsea Delaney, provided a powerful conclusion to the season by smashing a 250-foot two-run shot over the left-center for a mammoth home run.

Delaney ended the season with 11 home runs and 48 runs batted in with a sterling .451 average. She was named third-team to the Sun-Times’ all-area team. Delaney and team captains Anna Elliott and Brianna Berceau are the only players graduating.

“I got to come here as a freshman and that was a great experience,” Delaney said. “It was great to experience this again, my senior year. We played hard and we competed. Even though we lost, it was one of the greatest experiences of my life.”