‘I had to send her’: Miller’s heroics send Panthers to regional championship game on home field

CAMP POINT, Ill. — Karly Peters knew exactly what was on the line and exactly what to do.

In the bottom of the seventh inning of Wednesday’s Class 1A regional semifinal, Peters stood on second base as Lauren Miller stepped to the plate with the bases loaded, two outs and the Camp Point Central softball team trailing Southeastern 4-3. On the second pitch from the Suns’ Kenzie Griswold, Miller ripped a single through the left side that barely eluded shortstop Tegan Rigg’s glove.

“Right as the ball was hit, I knew I had to run as hard as I could to score the game-winning run,” Peters said.

Rebekkah Waterkotte scored from third base to tie the game, and Peters sprinted around third and headed for home as the ball skimmed through the outfield grass on its way to left fielder Mattie Branchfield. Miller watched anxiously from first base as Branchfield’s throw and Peters arrived at home plate almost simultaneously.

“We were so excited, but wanted to make sure that (the umpire) called her safe,” Miller said.

Peters’ slide dislodged the ball from catcher Katie O’Neil’s glove, leaving no doubt about the umpire’s call and resulting in a 5-4 walk-off victory.

“We got pretty lucky that she ended up dropping the ball,” Peters said.

Once Miller’s hit reached the outfield, nothing could stop Panthers coach Brey Genenbacher from waving Peters home.

“I had to send her or else I would have been kicking myself,” Genenbacher said.

Southeastern coach Mary Quigle chalked up this game-ending play as the chips not falling in the Suns’ favor.

“There’s nothing you can do about that,” Quigle said. “That’s part of the game.”

The game nearly ended before Miller ever got a chance to bat. The previous hitter, Adisen Mace, hit a ground ball to Rigg’s right. Rigg had a chance to force out Waterkotte running to third, but Rigg elected to make the long throw to first. Mace beat the throw by a half step.

“I was definitely holding my breath a little bit,” Genenbacher said. “There was a lot of holding breaths and high heart rates in that last inning.”

While Miller delivered the most dramatic swing of the game, Waterkotte provided the Panthers with a jolt of her own with two outs in the bottom of the fifth. With the Panthers trailing 4-1, the freshman third baseman took advantage of a 1-2 mistake from Griswold and launched her second career home run 20 feet over the center-field fence to bring the Panthers within two runs.

“(Griswold) has a good rise ball, and she threw me a rise ball, but it didn’t rise,” Waterkotte said. “It was perfect, right where I liked it. I knew it was gone.”

Genenbacher said Waterkotte’s blast flipped a switch and ignited the Panthers’ belief in completing their comeback.

“I think that was a momentum shifter,” said Genenbacher, whose team had lost 11-1 to Southeastern last Saturday. “We were kind of at a stalemate, and I think when she hit that, the girls realized this is possible and we can come back from this.”

The Panthers scratched across a run in the bottom of the sixth to cut their deficit to one. Mace reached on a Rigg error leading off the inning. Mace stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch during an Miller’s eight-pitch at bat that ended in a strikeout. On the next pitch, Mace scored on a Braizley Allison ground out.

Rigg gave the Suns a 3-0 lead on a three-run homer with one out in the top of the first. Rigg scored the Suns’ fourth run when Kayla Martin grounded out to Miller at shortstop. Rigg broke for home as Miller threw out Martin at first, and Rigg beat the throw home from first baseman Olivia Hofmann.

Miller relieved Panthers starting pitcher Emma Stephens at the start of the fifth inning. Miller struck out five and surrendered just one hit over the final three innings.

The Panthers (12-12) will challenge Pleasant Hill for the regional championship at 10 a.m. Saturday at Central

“Being here, having our fanbase and having our support with be really important,” Genenbacher said.