ALBANY — After a magical run to the WIAA Division 4 state championship game last year, the Juda-Albany softball team entered the 2022 season full of optimism — and why not? Nobody graduated and everyone returns.
To prove their worth in the season opener against Orangeville, which finished third in Illinois in 2021, the Panthers had to play like seasoned veterans in midseason form. Once again, they checked off a box.
“We’ve got a lot of good competition on our schedule this year — nonconference and conference,” Panthers coach Bill Davis said after Juda-Albany’s 7-3 win March 28. “You’ve got to get used to it, and playing these types of teams. The girls answered really well.”
Temperatures hovered just above freezing, but there were no clouds and the sun shined bright for much of the contest. Juda-Albany struck first in the bottom of the third inning. Avary Briggs reached on an error and moved to second on an Anna Skoumal sacrifice. Myah Johnson then stepped to the plate and crushed the first of her two triples.
In the fifth inning was almost a duplicate of the third. Briggs again reached on an error, again moved to second on a Skoumal sacrifice bunt, and again scored on a booming Johnson triple. This time, Brianna Dahl came through with a big hit through the right side to plate Johnson to make it 3-0.
“I was pretty happy with the hitting. Myah came out and was crushing the ball tonight. Avary Briggs, Brianna Dahl — everyone up and down the lineup. I was really happy with our performance,” Davis said.
The Broncos struggled to get any offense going against Briggs. The sophomore Juda-Albany pitcher was in midseason form, painting corner and mixing heaters with breaking balls. It didn’t help Orangeville that its senior all-state star, Tess Janecke, missed the game with her prep hockey club reaching the national tournament in Pennsylvania.
“We knew Juda-Albany is a great team and had a great season last year and had everybody coming back. For us, we’re working some things out. We have a couple of young kids in some spots; Janecke isn’t here right now, but she’ll be back,” said Lon Scheuerell, Orangeville’s coach.
But in the top of the sixth inning against Juda-Albany, Orangeville found some life. Addyson Wheeler led off the inning with a bloop into shallow center that was misplayed, moved to second and third on passed balls, and scored on Megan Holder’s groundout to short. Laney Holland then walked, and two pitches later Meghan Carlisle hit a line drive to right field that got past a charging Libby Jordan. The ball reached the fence, and Carlisle dashed around the bases, barely beating the throw to the plate while sliding through her bat that still laid in the baseline.
“We had no doubt we could come back. We just got third place in the state of Illinois, and a lot of those kids are back — a crew that’s been through it. They are not quitters. They definitely fought right to the end, and that was with six underclassmen out there playing today,” Scheuerell said.
Undeterred with the score knotted up at 3-3, Juda-Albany went back to work on offense again, this time at the opposite end of the order.
Jordan hit a liner to right and made it safely to third on an error. Katie Nusbaum then walked, and Emileigh Dallman blooped into right field, also reaching on an error and driving in a run. Briggs then grounded out to second, which drove in a second run, and Skoumal followed that with a troublesome bloop into center field to make it 6-3. After a Johnson singled, Dahl hit into a fielder’s choice, which plated the final run of the game.
“It just brings the excitement again. It shows us just how good we can be — even in a situation we’re not happy with, we can all come together, motivate each other and get back out on top,” Johnson said.
“A good hitting team will do that — they will answer back. We gave up those three runs to tie it in the sixth, but then we came back with four runs of our own,” Bill Davis said. “Are you a good team that believes in yourself and can answer back? We’ve shown that we can do that.”
Johnson finished 3-for-4 with two RBIs to lead Juda-Albany at the plate. Her early success this season was earned after an offseason of motivation and drive to return to state.
“I hit off of tees a lot, and worked with Avary whenever we could,” Johnson said.
Briggs struck out four while allowing three hits and a walk across seven innings, with two earned runs.
Carlisle was 2-for-3 with two RBIs. Leah Baker added a double. In the pitcher’s circle, Baker went five innings for Orangeville, allowing four hits and two walks with three strikeouts. Just one of the six runs against her were earned. Laney Holland subbed in and completed the sixth inning.
