Wildcats Find Themselves At The Top Of The Mountain Again, Beating Maine South For Back To Back Titles
The roar of the crowd echoed in the background as twilight fell on Slammer’s Stadium. The crisp summer air was thick with the anticipation of hundreds of fans as the 4A Illinois State Baseball Championship neared its end. With a run already allowed in the bottom of the 8th and their two-run lead potentially slipping through their fingers, all the pressure in the world was on Junior Madden Cotts. As he readied himself, with the anticipation of two towns looming over him, he threw the pitch, and the stadium erupted as the ump called strike. Final score: Libertyville 7, Maine South 6.
A dramatic close to what capped off a Disney-like comeback for the Libertyville squad. In speaking to Catcher and one of the leaders of the Wildcats squad, Ryan Wilberding, this was what was going through his mind as the team found themselves down heading into the 5th
“Your heart can race, and you need to make sure you can stay calm. We were there for a reason, so I trusted that we would put up a fight”
That steady leadership allowed Libertyville to overcome its deficit with a three-run sixth inning. But even then, Maine South refused to die, knotting the game up 5-5 and sending it into an extra 8th inning. A strong start to the top half of the inning allowed Libertyville to retake a 7-5 lead. But even then, they weren’t out of the woods, as Wilberding noted.
“When the runners got on base, I was getting a little nervous. I knew Madden (Cotts) was a good pitcher, and I had confidence in him. When he struck him out… I kinda blacked out a little.”
The victory caps off what is their second championship in school history, and even in back-to-back fashion. Led by an extremely experienced team with many players returning from last year's roster and headed up by an experienced coach, the team now faces new challenges, as many of those leaders had that night in Joliet as their swansong.
In talking with Varsity Head Coach Matt Thompson, he attributed the success of the program to a long tradition of baseball in Libertyville, going back to when Thompson himself was suiting up for the Wildcats.
(Referencing the High School Team) “It ties in to our great Little League program and Libertyville Youth Baseball….. They put in a ton of work in the Summer, Off-season, and during the season to continue the culture of winning.”
That being said, especially when it comes to high school athletics, everything needs to be put in perspective. In many cases, it's the last time these athletes will get to play sports, and for some, it's their last stop before entering the workforce. So helping to cultivate good people is just as vital as it is to get wins on the field, Thompson noted,
“It teaches them how to work together toward a common goal, interact with each other, help each other…. Everyone will go through tough things in their life, and athletics prepares them for their adult lives.”
As Seniors like Nico Harper and Chase Lockwood. And Trevor Wallace moves on, the entirety of the 4A division will be waiting with bated breath to see what wildcats squad returns come next spring, and as expected, the target on their back just got a whole lot larger.