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The McLouth softball team has captured the school's first ever State Championship in any sport.
They capped off a perfect season with a 3-0 win over St. Marys in the Class 2-1A Championship game on Friday afternoon in Pratt.
The Bulldogs (26-0) beat Hillsboro in the first round 9-2 on Thursday night and defeated Ell-Saline 10-0 in five innings on Friday morning in the semifinals to land the matchup with the Bears.
St. Marys (20-6) entered the title game as the six-seed and beat Central Heights 12-0 on Thursday in the first round and then got past the two-seed Bluestem 8-1 in the semifinals.
Corissa Bandel was stellar once again for the Bulldogs pitching a complete game, one hit shutout in the title game with 13 strikeouts. She pitched five innings and had 12 strikeouts in the first round over Hillsboro.
She scored three runs and tallied three hits in the semifinal win over Ell-Saline and added the biggest hit in the title game which was a two-RBI single in the second.
The Bulldogs scored all three of their runs against St. Marys in the second inning.
The semifinal win over Ell-Saline might go down as the Dani Lee legacy game. The sophomore went 3-for-3 with a home run, two doubles and four RBI's. Lee also struck out seven inside the circle and allowed just one hit in the fifth inning to the Cardinals.
Against Hillsboro on Thursday, Dani had three hits including a home run and four RBI's.
Corissa finishes the season inside the circle with a 14-0 record surrendering just five earned runs in 74 innings pitched with 169 strikeouts.
Dani finishes the season inside the circle with a 12-0 record giving up just one earned run all season in 51 innings pitched with 118 strikeouts.
Both are well on their way to first team all-state honors.
Freshman DP Charley Coffin had three hits against Hillsboro and added a big 2-RBI double in the win over Ell-Saline.
Elizabeth Holloway had three hits including two doubles in the two games on Friday. Jillian Holwick had two hits and two runs against Hillsboro.
McLouth earned the number one ranking about halfway through the regular season and never looked back. They outscored their opponents in 26 games this season 321-11 and it will simply go down as one of the most dominant seasons across the board in state history.
McLouth will graduate only two seniors with Corissa Bandel and Jillian Holwick so the future remains bright as they'll look to repeat as state champions in 2024.
Postgame Interview
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