How Gillespie softball is forging ahead after last year’s early playoff exit
The Gillespie softball team romped through the South Central Conference without a blemish for a third straight season last spring.
They seemed poised for another postseason run until a stunning 5-4 loss to league rival Staunton in the Class 2A regional semifinal despite winning the previous two meetings, 7-1 and 11-4.
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They’re not dwelling on the past. They’re entirely focused on the present — one inning at a time.
“We ended on a note that we really didn’t want to,” senior pitcher Emma Gipson said. “I don’t really know what happened because I try to flush it after awhile because I have to go right back into travel.
“Now that it’s the high school season again, we’re just taking it game by game, so we’re going to be prepared for the postseason.”
Meet the seniors
Gillespie retains a large share of its lineup, even though it heralds only a small cluster of seniors: Gipson, second baseman Lauren Bertagnolli and first baseman Wrigley Releford.
That senior trio traces their roots together back to tee ball.
“It’s a lot sometimes,” Releford said during a lull in the Spring Slam at University of Illinois Springfield. “We make each other mad, but we know we don’t take it to heart. It’s awesome, it’s definitely something that we cherish forever.”
Gipson, of course, is the State Journal-Register's two-time Small School Softball Player of the Year. She is signed to play at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale.
Bertagnolli, meanwhile, missed most of last season due to a hand injury after diving back to first base against Piasa Southwestern. The grueling recovery process lasted until the end of summer before competing in volleyball and basketball.
Not being to help the team in the playoffs was perhaps more excruciating.
“That whole time was a blur,” Bertagnolli said. “I was so over it.”
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Boost to the lineup
Bertagnolli intends to play volleyball, and possibly softball, at Lewis and Clark Community College.
Releford intends to resume softball at Lewis and Clark too, but after she completes basic training with the Air National Guard.
Bertagnolli has certainly bolstered the lineup with a .324 batting average, including 11 hits, eight RBIs and 12 runs through the first 11 games.
Gipson described Bertagnolli as her “Little Bean.”
“She’s really helpful,” Gipson said. “She’s got some speed to her, she’s just fun to be around.
“We’ve got a little handshake that we do before every inning or when we get an out. She’s my person that I look to in the infield when I need a little smile or something.”
Bertagnolli said she is more than happy to be back with Gipson.
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Gipson hasn’t lost any luster.
She is 7-2 with a sterling 1.04 ERA, along with 74 strikeouts and just 12 walks. She also wields a .400 average with 12 hits, 13 RBIs and five runs, including four home runs.
“She’s very positive all of the time,” Bertagnolli said, “which I think is a very hard trait to stick with and be all of the time because as a pitcher, it’s really frustrating. But I think she does really well at picking everybody else up whenever she’s good and everybody else not so much.”
Team camaraderie
The Miners mesh as an entire unit, too.
Sophomore shortstop Ava Parish has stepped up as a potent leadoff hitter. She boasts a .514 average with 18 hits, 11 RBIs and 16 runs — not to mention four home runs. Sophomore Paxton Reid (.344) has also flourished.
“Most of these kids have played some kind of travel at some point or are still playing travel softball,” Gipson said. “It’s nice to have that experience on the field. They are mostly young, but they all work really well together.”
Releford agreed.
“We all have a different mix of personalities,” Releford said, “but they clash so well together that we just get along so well.”
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Gillespie softball star Emma Gipson savors final season with seniors
