Illinois District 17’s pursuit of World Series title ends in quarterfinals

ROXANA, Del. — An incredible run came to an abrupt end late Friday night.

A nearly unhittable pitcher is why.

The Illinois District 17 softball team, which finished atop its pool at the Senior League Softball World Series, was limited to one hit by Curacao right-hander J’Dah Girigorie in a 2-0 loss in the quarterfinals Friday night at Bruce Layton Field. A four-hour rain delay pushed the start time back to nearly 9:30 p.m.

Girigorie took a perfect game into the bottom of the fifth inning before Pleasant Hill’s McKinley Lowe smacked a two-out single through the right side of the infield. Girigorie proceeded to set the next seven batters down in order, five of them with strikeouts.

She faced one batter over the minimum and struck out 16.

Lowe kept Central in position to rally by limiting Curacao to two runs and seven hits, while striking out nine and walking one. Curacao, which is the Latin America region representative, scored single runs in the third and sixth innings.

Girigorie did the rest.

Illinois District 17, which had players from seven high schools spread across six counties, won the Central Regional to earn the berth in the World Series and proceeded to go 3-2 on the sport’s biggest stage.

The Illinois roster featured Brown County’s Taryn Moorman, Carthage’s Elly Krieg, Havana’s Abby Cowell, Jaylyn Sarnes and Elisabeth Waymire, Macomb’s Kylie and Kaitlyn Robinson, Pittsfield’s Emma and Grace Henry, Pleasant Hill’s Lowe, Makenna Winchell and Ava Wombles, and Rushville’s Addie Greene.