HS softball: Sectional heartbreaker on repeat for Gillespie against Newton
The Gillespie High School softball team’s season ended with a 5-3 extra inning loss against Newton in the IHSA Class 2A sectional semifinals May 27. The Miners, winners of the outright South Central Conference title and Gillespie regional championship, finished with a 22-8 record overall. Photo contributed.
By JACKSON WILSON
Enquirer Democrat Reporter
The Gillespie High School softball players, coaches and fans didn’t want to re-live the pain and heartbreak of last year’s sectional matchup with Newton but, unfortunately, it happened again in near identical fashion for the Miners in the semifinals of the Class 2A Vandalia sectional May 27.
For the second year in a row, Gillespie was three outs away from victory with a one-run lead heading into the seventh. Newton rallied to tie the game and force extras, then won it, 5-3, with a walkoff two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth. Newton’s 3-2 win against Gillespie in the 2024 sectional championship game at Greenville was also decided in eight frames.
Sadie Sholtis, who pitched the full eight innings for the Miners on the rubber, struck her ninth home run of the season to tie teammate Ava Parish’s single season record and put Gillespie ahead, 2-0, in the top of the first. Parish, which set the record as a sophomore last season, also went deep in the fifth and put the Miners back up two after the Eagles made it 2-1 in the fourth. Parish finished her junior campaign with five home runs.
After once again reducing the gap to one run, Newton led off the bottom of the seventh with a single, sacrifice bunted the equalizer to second base then tied the game with an RBI single to set up the thrilling finish.
The Eagles went on to win the sectional championship game against Columbia while the Miners bowed out with a 22-8 record overall.
Gillespie previously defeated East Alton Wood River, 15-6, and arch-rival Staunton, 9-5, to win its program’s 13th regional championship in 19 seasons under the leadership of head coach Michelle Smith. The Miners also locked up their fourth consecutive outright South Central Conference title. With all but two seniors in Delaney Taylor and Macie Wright returning for 2026, Gillespie looks to re-load again and finally take the desperately-coveted step of clearing its first sectional championship hurdle since 1995, and beyond.
