Prep Baseball Report

Illinois Class 1A State Semifinals Results



By Drew Locascio
Illinois Scouting Director

Game 1: Somonauk 4, Salt Fork 3

PEORIA, IL – The Somonauk Bobcats were led by junior right-handed pitcher Johnny Johnson en route to a 4-3 victory over Salt Fork in game one of the day in the Class 1A Semifinals at Peoria’s Dozer Park.

Johnson, who improves to 7-0 on the year, went the distance, allowing three runs, on five hits with five strikeouts. The crafty right-hander allowed a run in the first inning and two in the sixth inning.

After giving up a run in the first, Johnson settled down and put up four consecutive zero’s allowing the Somonauk (24-6) offense to go to work. The Bobcats put up two runs in the bottom half of the first inning with help from two RBI singles Ryan Lumsden and Andrew Johnson.  

They tacked on another run in the bottom of the third thanks to another run scoring single by Andrew Johnson, which extended the lead to 3-1. Then in the sixth, Johnny Johnson drove an RBI triple into the gap adding an insurance run that proved crucial.

Salt Fork (23-16) made their move in the top of the sixth, plating two runs and cutting the lead to 4-3.  After a one out single by Jordan Eakle, Caleb Fauver doubled, giving the Storm runners at second and third with one out. Both runners eventually scored on consecutive RBI singles by Connor Taylor and Colton Baird. Johnny Johnson was able to avoid any further damage however, inducing back-to-back groundouts to get out of the inning.

Johnson came back out in the top of the seventh and made quick work of the Storm offense, setting them down in order to preserve the 4-3 lead and advance the Bobcats to the State Championship game.

Somonauk meets Goreville for the Class 1A State Championship tomorrow at 11:00 am at Dozer Park. Salt Fork will face off against Okawville in the Class 1A 3rd Place game tomorrow at 9 am.

Game 2: Goreville 8, Okawville 6

In the second Class 1A Semifinal contest, Okawville was fighting to get back to the Championship game after finishing runner-up last year. Unfortunately for Okawville, two big innings did them in and Goreville came out victorious by a score of 8-6.

Goreville (27-6) jumped on Okawville early scoring four runs in the top of the second inning. The Blackcats from Goreville loaded the bases via two walks and a hit batter. Consecutive two-run singles by Braden Webb and Brodie Lenon followed, giving them a four run cushion early.

Okawville responded by scoring five runs over the next four innings, taking a 5-4 lead into the top of the sixth. Drew Frederking and Brad Fuhrhop contributed with RBI doubles during that stretch. Noland Crane also singled, doubled and scored a run to help spark the Rocket offense.

Trailing 5-4 in the top of the sixth, Goreville once again responded with another four-run inning. Jared Vaughn hit a one out, run-scoring triple, to deep left-center field and Lenon followed it up two batters later with his own RBI triple. Chance Duringer, was next up and promptly drove in Lenon with an RBI single, which gave the Blackcats an 8-5 lead at the time.

Okawville was able to get one run back in the bottom half of the inning but that was it. Lenon came out of the bullpen for the Blackcats and shut the door on the Rocket offense. Lenon gave up one hit and no runs over the final two innings, picking up the save and helping Goreville advance to the State Championship game tomorrow.

Okawville drops to 19-14-1 on the year and will play the first game of the day tomorrow, the 1A third place game at 9 am. Somonauk and Goreville will square off at 11:00 am for the Class 1A State Title.

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