Survive and Advance: Liberty softball coach not thrilled with level of play but accepts regional semifinal victory

BARRY, Ill. — Liberty softball coach BJ Fessler remained optimistic while also addressing the elephant in the room in the postgame huddle following a 14-7 victory over Griggsville-Perry in Tuesday’s Class 1A Barry Western Regional semifinal game.

The No. 2 seed Eagles did not perform up to their standard.

“I wasn’t hard on the girls,” Fessler said. “I was like, ‘Hey, we have to come in a little more focused, get our jobs done.’ I was trying to be positive and pump them up, like, ‘Hey, that’s how you do the postseason. You survive and advance, but let’s keep our eye on the prize here.’”

After scoring seven unanswered runs to take a 7-1 lead over No. 6 seed Griggsville-Perry — a team they beat 15-0 on May 7 — the Eagles let the Tornadoes back in the game with a four-run top of the fourth inning that featured two errors and another two plays that could have been scored as errors.

“I’m like, ‘What is going on?’” Fessler said. “To their credit, they were taking advantage, and we were kind of on our heels.”

Eagles second baseman Anna Dietrich could sense the frustration mounting during that inning.

“There was not a smile on the field,” Dietrich said.

The Eagles responded with two runs in the bottom of the inning, which Dietrich began with the first of her two hits. Dietrich later scored on Andi Mixer’s double, and Claire Obert drove in another run with a groundout to give the Eagles a four-run cushion, much to the delight of sophomore pitcher Chandler John.

“It was like a breath of fresh air,” John said. 

The Tornadoes immediately got those two runs back on Claire Bennett’s home run that pierced through the wind and over the left-field fence, but again, the Eagles answered, this time with four runs to extend their lead to a much more comfortable 13-7 after five.

“With our team, once the first person hits, then we’re on a roll,” said Dietrich, who had an RBI single in the fifth. “Sometimes it takes a little bit, but after one person hits, the rest follow through. It was a little bit slower today, but it worked out in the end.”

Center fielder Camdyn Ormond went 3 for 4 and got the Eagles on the board with a single in the second that tied the game at one, then added an RBI base hit in the third inning. She said Griggsville-Perry pitcher Ashtyn Wainman’s slower velocity took a little getting used to.

“We just had to adjust,” Ormond said.

The Eagles eventually adjusted, but not before making things a little more stressful than anticipated.

“(Griggsville-Perry) came out with nothing to lose, and that’s what makes teams dangerous,” Fessler said. “That is so not the way we’ve played ball all year. We still pulled out a convincing win, but we’d played such good ball up until then. I don’t like to see that right at the end. I want to see us back to what we do.”

Tornadoes coach Jon VanWinkle credited his players for playing with that “nothing-to-lose” mentality, spurred by his message to them after that 15-0 loss to the Eagles 13 days prior.

“I said, ‘Listen, we just have to be able to hold our heads high and walk off that field. I don’t care what the score is. Let’s go out and do what we can do,’ and my girls did everything,” said VanWinkle, whose team finished with a 4-12 record. “We’ve had a long season, so even with a loss, it was a great ending for us.”

All the Eagles (22-5) can do is move on to their next opponent, who will be the winner between No. 3 seed Pleasant Hill and fifth-seeded Western on Wednesday.

“Survive and advance,” Fessler said. “That was not our style, but get it done and move on.”