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Sports Editor Matt Daniels with a look at what’s going on around the area:
Champaign Central senior Kaitlyn Helm and the rest of her Maroons softball teammates will try to keep their season going on Wednesday.
Three reasons we love sports today
➜ 1. The Champaign Central softball team will play a Class 3A sectional semifinal game on Wednesday afternoon in Chatham. The Maroons (25-3) meet Rochester (23-7) at 4 p.m., with host Glenwood (32-1) and Mt. Zion (24-10) playing at 6 p.m. in the second sectional semifinal game.
➜ 2. The fact Central softball is in this position is still hard to believe for some veteran sports fans in C-U. Mainly because the Maroons lost 56 straight games from 2010-12 and had 27 straight losing seasons until last year’s team went 16-12-1.
➜ 3. The long-awaited regional title drought of 44 years is no more after this past Saturday’s 4-1 win against Mahomet-Seymour. Now, we’ll see if the Maroons can make even more history this week.
Illinois Field will host the IHSA Class 1A and 2A baseball state tournament on June 6 and June 7 instead of Dozer Park in Peoria because of a scheduling conflict at Dozer Park.
Numbers game: 9
state championships in baseball won by the eight teams who will play this weekend at Illinois Field in Champaign when the Class 1A and 2A state tournament unfolds Friday and Saturday. Teutopolis leads the way with four state titles in 2010, 2011, 2017 and 2019. Ottawa Marquette in 2019 and 2024 and Sacred Heart-Griffin in 1964 and 1987 have both won two, while Lexington won its lone state title in 1990.
Players on the LeRoy softball team pose with a Class 1A super-sectional plaque the Panthers won after defeating Serena 9-5 on Monday evening at Inspiration Field on the Illinois Wesleyan campus in Bloomington.
Crowd control
Three events I’m paying attention to
➜ 1. Champaign Central vs. Mt. Zion baseball. The Maroons (24-12-1) will try to keep their late-season success intact when they square off against the Braves (21-9) at 2 p.m. Wednesday in a Class 3A Lincoln Sectional semifinal game.
➜ 2. Mahomet-Seymour vs. Chatham Glenwood baseball. Glenwood beat M-S to win a Class 3A sectional title in 2022 and M-S won a sectional semifinal game against the Titans in 2024. Round three happens at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday in a Class 3A Lincoln Sectional semifinal game.
➜ 3. LeRoy vs. Dakota softball. LeRoy (34-5) makes its second Class 1A state tournament appearance when it meets Dakota (24-5) at 12:30 p.m. Friday in a state semifinal game at Louisville Slugger Sports Complex in Peoria.
Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin senior volleyball player Reis McFarland.
Ask an athlete
Three questions with Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin volleyball player Reis McFarland, who will be a senior during the 2025 season:
➜ 1. Three athletes I’d like to have dinner with are … David Goggins, Serena Williams and Katie Ledecky.
➜ 2. The TV I most like to binge-watch is … “Gilmore Girls.”
➜ 3. My biggest pet peeve is … hearing people chew their food.
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