Extra-inning victory pushes Illinois District 17 softball squad to top of pool at World Series

ROXANA, Del. — One miscue won’t derail the Illinois District 17 softball team’s mission to win a World Series title.

Leading Calgary, Alberta, by two runs in the sixth inning Wednesday at Lyons Field, the Land of Lincolners allowed two unearned runs as a fielding error contributed to the Canadian uprising. A pickoff ended the inning without further damage, and Illinois regained the lead in the top of the eighth on a solo home run by Illini Bluffs’ Cora Ellison.

That was enough for Springfield’s Mia Volpert to finish her relief stint by setting down the Canada squad in order in the bottom of the eighth to preserve a 3-2 victory in a battle of teams undefeated in Senior League World Series pool play.

District 17 (3-0) will finish pool play at 4:30 p.m. Thursday against Czech Republic District 1 and will head into the single-elimination bracket Friday on the top team out of Pool B.

The Calgary crew had been undefeated in pool play prior to Wednesday’s game and became the first team in the postseason to slow the Illinois offense.

Despite getting the first two runners on in the first inning, Illinois was unable to score, and it took until the third inning to get the offense going. Pittsfield’s Emma Henry led off with a double, and one out later, Macomb’s Kylie Robinson reached on an error to put two runners in scoring position.

Quincy Notre Dame’s Caitlin Bunte followed with an RBI sacrifice fly to center field, and Robinson made it 2-0 as she scored on an error by the Canadian catcher. District 17 loaded the bases after that, but stranded all three runners on base.

It seemed like it may be enough the way Bunte was delivering. She struck out five and walked none over six innings, while allowing eight hits and two unearned runs. Volpert pitched the final two innings with two strikeouts and one walk.