DACC baseball, softball fall in regionals

CHAMPAIGN — The rivalry between Danville Area Community College and Parkland College in baseball and softball, the stakes were heightened on Saturday.

The Jaguars battled the Cobras in an Region 24-A championship game, while the Lady Jaguars were just down the way to face the Lady Cobras in a Central District semifinal.

The Lady Cobras were the ones starting early with five runs in the bottom of the first and added a run in the fourth for a 6-0 lead.

DACC had three runs in the top of the seventh, but could not do much else in losing 6-3.

“That has been the M.O. of the season,” DACC softball coach Matt Cervantes said about the comeback. “They are a special team and they worked well with each other and they never quit on anything. This is one of the best groups I have coached and I hope it is not done because we have a chance to get in as an at-large bid. It stings a little, but I am so proud of them for how they compete and try to do a job. Softball is softball and this is just part of it.”

Before the rally in the seventh, there were two opportunities with the bases loaded for the Lady Jaguars to cut into the lead and could not do it.

“We had opportunities in the fourth and fifth and didn’t get a timely hit. That is just softball. It stinks at times but that is how the game goes,” Cervantes said. “We couldn’t get something going offensively and that is tough for us. Sometimes it goes our way and sometime it doesn’t, but these girls give it their all and if I could coach them for the rest of my coaching career, I would because they are awesome kids.”

Ella Myers and Chloe Hunt each had three hits, while Tristen Ring had two RBIs with a double and Kendall Rannebarger had an RBI.

The Lady Jaguars has a 49-14 record and could get an at-large bid when brackets are announced for the NJCAA Division II National Tournament today at 3 p.m. Cervantes hopes that no matter what, the team once again brought respect to the program.

“When we bring these kids in, we see them as a team and we use people no matter what to build quality teams every year at DACC,” Cervantes said. “I think people respect our name and program and that’s all I can ask for.”

The Jaguars’ baseball team took the early lead on an RBI single by Drew Wichtowski in the first inning, but the Cobras would score three in third, five in the fourth, three in the seventh and two in the eighth to win 13-1.

“We gave up a lot of free bases and we didn’t control the 90 feet between each base,” DACC baseball coach Clayton Hicks said. “We had about 10 walks and if you combine some errors and hit by pitches, that’s the difference. When you play a team like this ,you have to protect the baseball and we didn’t.”

The loss ended the season at 23-30 for DACC after a promising start to the season.

“We started off hot, but we had injuries creep up,” Hicks said. “Guys like (Jaydon) Riggs, Wichtowski and (Braxton) Waller will be missed in our lineup next year with what they bring in offensively. Hopefully we can have some freshmen that can pick up where they left off and maybe we will be better on the mound. We may not have the pop we had this year, but we could do more in situational play.”

As the Cobras celebrated winning the title, Hicks hopes that scene can motivate the team next year.

“l hope the freshmen are watching that and it burns them as much as it does me,” Hicks said. “But we will address that in the offseason to make sure we are holding a plaque next year.”