Miller pitches Loyola to 4A championship

EAST PEORIA, Ill. – The Class 4A title game was only seven pitches in when Loyola’s Molly Warner crossed home plate in the first inning Saturday, but as the Ramblers jumped around and hugged in the dugout, they understand they were nearing the school’s first state softball championship.

“We knew we could hold them from there,” Warner said.

With Sun-Times Player of the Year Devin Miller on the mound, Warner wasn’t just being optimistic.

Coming off a perfect game the day before, Miller did prove to be human Saturday, allowing three hits against Edwardsville, but that would be it. For the seventh consecutive playoff game, Miller held her opponents scoreless, and the Ramblers (36-2) defeated Edwardsville 2-0 to win the 4A state title at the EastSide Centre in East Peoria.

“I was so much more relaxed, knowing that I got a lead,” said Miller, who improved to 27-2. “It lets you go out and play your game. It helps that you’re always winning.

“It’s exciting. We wanted to go out with a win since October. We had this all planned out.”

Loyola’s first-inning plan to get to Tigers pitcher Lauren Francis, who also threw a no-hitter Friday, worked out well, too. Warner started it off with single to shallow center field. Teresa Aguilar put runners on first and second with a single into right field. Edwardsville third baseman Rachel Coonrod then allowed Warner to score when she overthrew first base on a grounder by Jenny Edwards. Miller then helped her own cause by driving in Aguilar from third with a groundout to the right side of the infield.

From there, Miller and her defense took over.

While Miller had her share of strikeouts again – nine times she struck out the Tigers – but Loyola’s defense also emerged. In the fourth inning, left fielder Maggie Mullen dove for a catch in foul territory. In the sixth, Edwards, a second baseman, made a diving stop and threw the runner out at first. Later in the inning, Aguilar, the catcher, gunned a base runner down trying to steal second.

“That’s what team softball is all about,” Loyola coach Marty Jennings said. “It’s not about Devin. It’s about this group coming together and playing as one. That’s how you win a championship. You can have great pitchers, and you can have great hitters, but if you don’t have a great group, you’re not going to win it.”

When Jennings was hired two years ago, many, including Loyola’s own players, questioned whether he was the right hire.

“I think everyone had their doubts,” Miller said. “He was new to the whole sport. It was nerve-wrecking going into your first year and not having a person experienced. He’s done a lot better … obviously.”

Jennings said, “Two years ago, a lot of people laughed when I was hired. For me and Pat Mahoney, the AD who took a chance on me, I have a lot of pride in that someone had enough faith in me to put me in this position to take a group like this to a place this is unbelievable.”