Oak Forest's Focus Sharpens in Quest for Another Softball Crown

After winning the program’s first state championship in 2009, the Oak Forest softball team used a specific quote as motivation last season.

“The quote was ‘Getting to the top is the easy part, staying on top is the hard part,’ ” Oak Forest coach Paige Stryczek said. “That is the hard part because nobody is going to underestimate you anymore. We have a little bit more focus this year because we need to go back to playing Bengal softball.”

The Bengals were denied a shot at defending their Class 3A championship last season when eventual state champion Metamora beat Oak Forest 7-3 in the supersectional.

Oak Forest is now hoping to avoid a repeat of that disappointment.

in the Class 3A Oak Forest Sectional final for the program’s fourth consecutive sectional crown.

“Supersectionals last year was definitely a bummer,” Oak Forest star pitcher Emily Norton said. “Hopefully this year we can go into the game with a different attitude. I’m excited. We have a pretty young team so it’s going to be fun to see what it’s like. I think we’ve been doing well and are on a groove, so hopefully it goes well.”

Norton (21-4) has been the winning pitcher in all four of the Bengals’ sectional championship victories. She combined with senior Colleen Sherwood to threw a no-hitter Saturday. Norton struck out 10 in five innings of work.

Oak Forest will take on LaSalle-Peru, which beat East Peoria 7-5 Saturday, in Monday’s Illinois State University Supersectional in Normal. LaSalle-Peru earned its first sectional championship.

Oak Forest junior catcher Emily Naegele, who has been on varsity since her freshman season, hit a home run against Evergreen Park and is hoping to erase the sad memories of last season’s supersectional loss as well.

“It was really tough last season,” Naegele said. “I’m excited. This is a really good win for us and gives us a lot of motivation going into our next game.”