Helm shuts out Tigers as Maroons keep making history

"I didn't think it was going to go over, so that was a sigh of relief for me," Helm said, "and I hope it was for everybody else, too."

Two more scoreless frames later, the Maroons put a bow on yet another tightly contested win. They've gotten used to playing in close games like that. Since their 12-1 win against Mahomet-Seymour on April 20, they've won two games by six runs, and their other seven victories in that stretch have been by three runs or fewer. They're proving they know how to win close games, invaluable experience come postseason time.

"Their mentality in the box is very much, 'You're not going to beat me,'" Miller said. "We upped the difficulty of our schedule this season with the intention of these games being close to prepare us for the postseason. That, 'I'm going to win, and no one's going to beat me' mentality has really been our strongest asset. Seeing them collectively work together to accomplish that has been a real privilege."

Tuesday's outcome could have easily gone the other way, which is why Zaayer had a smile on his face after the game. That and the fact that it was Westville's senior night, and he couldn't help but smile thinking about how his three seniors — Kiesel, Jazmyn Bennett and Laney Cook — did to surprise him during the pre-game festivities.

While this is just Zaayer's second year as the Tigers' varsity high school coach, he's been coaching those three since 2018. While Kiesel, Bennett and Cook got plenty of keepsakes of their own, they decided to give Zaayer one. They framed a picture of them from their early playing years next to one from this season, in which they're holding their old jerseys.

"When the opportunity for this position came up, it was this group that really made me want to do it," Zaayer said. "Coaching is a demanding job, and at the end of the day, you're doing it for the girls between the lines. That's the only reason behind it. It's just a good group, and it's fun to be here."

Winning helps, and the Tigers have done plenty of that in recent years, setting their own single-season wins record in four straight years from 2022-25. A win on Thursday at Oakwood/Schlarman would clinch an undefeated outright Vermilion Valley Conference title for the fifth time in the last six years after settling for second last season.

"Trust me, it's on our minds," Zaayer said. "Last year, we kind of trickled downhill. Fortunately, this year, we've been on an upward trend. We started out slow and have been consistently battling our way up. I have high hopes going into our last conference game and regionals, so we'll see where it leads us."

Central also has high expectations for the postseason, which starts next week. Another addition to this historic season would be a trip to the state finals, and the Maroons have every intention of making that happen.

"Their focus has been really great on just playing one game at a time, finishing the regular season strong and keeping that goal in the back of their minds," Miller said. "They've accomplished so much as such a young team. Our whole team is juniors and below. Of course, we want to get that state title, but by no means will we be defeated if we don't achieve that. We've already achieved so much, and we have a whole other year to work toward that goal."