Norton leads Bengals to 3A title game

Oak Forest assistant coach Kelly Redican screams encouragement at Emily Naegele (22) after she hit a triple in the sixth inning of Friday's Class 3A state semifinal.
(Adam Gerik/Journal Star)

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EAST PEORIA—Emily Norton was cool, calm and collected.

The Oak Forest sophomore pitched out of numerous jams and the Bengals took advantage of their opportunities to defeat Burlington Central 4-0 Friday in the Class 3A state semifinals at EastSide Centre.

"I know I'm supposed to be nervous," Norton said. "But I think I left those back at school. It was too big of a game to freak out over balls and strikes. I just had to take care of my team."

Norton (28-3), who walked one and struck out 13, certainly did that. Burlington Central (25-6) actually outhit the Bengals 4-to-3 and each team committed four errors. But every time the Rockets looked to blast off, Norton stymied them - stranding 11 runners in the game, including leaving the bases loaded in the first and fifth.

"She owned it," Oak Forest coach Paige Stryczek said. "Whenever she got in trouble, she came through big time."

The Bengals (30-4) got on the board in the bottom of the third when Amanda Shepard (single) scored from third on an errant throw. They added a run in the fourth when Norton drew a two-out walk, stole second and the came home on an errant throw to third on another stolen base.

Freshman catcher Emily Naegele (2-for-3) belted a two-run triple to right in the fifth. Right before that the inning was kept alive when Haylee Swanson reached on a catchers interference call with two outs, nullifying a fly out.

"I was confused with (the catchers interference), but then I just went up confident and whacked the ball," Naegele said. "I think today was Emily's best game."

Senior shortstop Kayla Oranger had two hits for the Rockets, who also stranded two runners in the third and seventh.

Mackenzie Scott (20-3) took the loss. The senior righty allowed no earned runs, walked four and struck out eight. Both Norton and Scott entered the game with four straight shutouts.

"She (Norton) is a great pitcher and kept us swinging," Burlington Central coach Scot Sutherland said. "We just didn't take advantage of situations and I wish we would have played better."