Six-run inning enables Havana to end Liberty’s record-setting season in sectional championship

CONCORD, Ill. — Chandler John did not let one inning define the Liberty softball team’s season.

Instead, John and the Eagles intend to use it as fuel for an even deeper postseason run in 2026.

Liberty led Havana 5-1 entering the bottom of the fifth inning of Friday’s Class 1A Triopia Sectional championship game before the Ducks plated six runs and held on to win 7-5 to advance to Monday’s super-sectional.

John, a sophomore right-handed pitcher, admitted she was frustrated during that fifth inning in which 10 Havana hitters came to the plate and the Ducks matched their hit total — four — from the first four innings.

“It was really frustrating because they weren’t really hitting me the entire game, then in that inning, they started hitting,” John said.

After a walk and a hit by pitch to begin the inning, Addie Atwater cut the Ducks’ deficit in half with a two-run single. Maddie Howerter cranked a double off the left-center field fence, just over center fielder Camdyn Ormond’s outstretched glove, to drive in Atwater and make it a one-run game. 

A sacrifice bunt moved courtesy runner Aidan Kline to third before Hannah Hogsdon reached on a ground ball that shortstop Ava Heming bobbled. Karlie Hurst lined out to Heming, then Havana freshman left fielder Jenna Brooks delivered the deciding blow with a two-out RBI triple to the right center field gap that gave the Ducks a 6-5 lead.

“It really kept the vibes going,” Brooks said. “It was awesome.”

Willa Towery followed Brooks with a run-scoring single to cap the rally. With the lead secured, Howerter retired the Eagles in order in the sixth and seventh, ending the Eagles’ season.

In John’s eyes, that inning or the result of it did not take away from a successful campaign.

“We accomplished everything we wanted to accomplish,” John said. “We wanted to win the regional, and anything beyond that was just extra.”

Liberty set a new program record with 24 victories, a number Eagles coach BJ Fessler believes his team can surpass next season.

“Twenty wins was our starting goal,” Fessler said. “We got 24, and that was with nine rainouts. Next year, our goal is 30 and to show up at Peoria (site of the state tournament).”

Like John, Fessler did not let the fifth inning diminish what his team accomplished this season or the prospects that lie ahead for a program only graduating two seniors.

“The sun will come up tomorrow,” Fessler said. “This team will make a long postseason run the next couple years. There are too many pieces coming back, and we have some really good pieces coming in, too.”

The Eagles having a four-run lead in a sectional title game to begin with gives John the confidence they can reach even greater heights ahead.

“I just know that we can do it, that we have next year and that we’re going to be an even stronger team,” John said.

Likewise, fellow sophomore Claire Obert, who went 1 for 2 and reached base three times on Friday, was optimistic about what the future holds.

“Sometimes things just don’t end up how you like,” Obert said. “I think we can do it. We’ll be even better next year because we’re only losing two people, and the rest of us will continue to progress and do their part.

“We’re going for that sectional championship next year.”

Five errors in the first three innings brought in the Eagles’ five runs, three of which scored when Towery dropped a pop up off the bat of Obert and an overthrow of first base as Obert took a wide turn around the bag allowed Obert to advance to third and clear the bases.

The Eagles scored two more runs in the third when, with the bases loaded again, Ormond hit a ground ball back to Howerter, who threw out Josie Hocking at home plate. Kaydi Miller’s throw to first got past Hogsdon, allowing Obert and Leila Parkhill to score.

After that inning, Howerter allowed just two baserunners — back-to-back singles in the fifth — and struck out four.

“Maddie was resilient,” Havana coach Todd Snowden said. “She came back and kept her composure. A lot of kids, you get down 5-1 like that or you give up three unearned runs in the first inning, they hang their head, and she didn’t do that. She came back, and that’s how she’s been all year. She’s very mature for a freshman.”

The Ducks (23-3-1) will face Carrollton (35-1) in Monday’s super-sectional in Athens.

“Anything can happen on any given day,” Snowden said. “Hopefully we can squeeze a win out of that. We’ll see what happens.”