Adam Duvall | Peoria Journal Star
TREMONT — Here’s the situation: Tremont leads Illinois Valley Central by a run in the final inning of a Class 2A regional championship softball game. IVC has runners on second and third with no outs. The current batter has a 3-0 count.
Not an ideal scenario with the season on the line.
But not everyone has Paige McAllister in the circle.
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The Tremont senior battled back to get a strikeout for the first out, then fell behind 3-1 before sitting down the next batter. She then worked the count full before getting a swinging strike to end the game.
“It’s definitely rattling for a pitcher,” McAllister said of the near disaster, “but I mean, I have confidence in my defense. I know, in the end, I just got to trust my stuff and trust my catcher to catch it. I know my abilities. I just got to stick to that. Be confident.
“It was interesting, for sure.”
No question, though, Tremont coach Brian Patterson was going to stick with his ace, who is 15-1 with 211 strikeouts, 14 walks and a 1.22 ERA in 103.1 innings. She also has three perfect games and two no-hitters. https://a77d1948ee6da56f819d81ea9c2d01f5.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html
“That was probably the first time ever coaching Paige that you (saw) a struggle there mentally,” he said. “… Some doubting maybe. For some reason, (against IVC) it was just a touch off. We hadn’t seen that from Paige all year.”
Instead of shaking it off to celebrate the program’s ninth regional plaque or labeling her outing as a “bad inning,” McAllister was engrossed in how she could improve, or even fix an issue that saw her toss 17 balls in the seventh inning.https://a77d1948ee6da56f819d81ea9c2d01f5.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html
She immediately thought through it, asked questions and got feedback from Patterson, her catcher Jenna Getz and Turks assistant Wesley Edwards, who is charged with calling the pitches.
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Ultimately, McAllister got to the root of the problem, asking her coach: “What went on in my mechanics that caused those two walks in that seventh inning?”
The issue? She was overstriding within her pitching form, which caused her pitches to tail up and out of the zone. This exchange is a mere microcosm of what McAllister has done in her prep career.
“She’s just always been the kind of a kid that’s a student of the game,” said Patterson, who also acts as a pitching coach. “She’s always a sponge, really trying to take in as much as she can.Your stories live here.Fuel your hometown passion and plug into the stories that define it.Create Account
“Paige has always kind of been a different player. She’s really always understood the, ‘I’m going to get out of this what I put into it.’ ”
Weight room visits at 6 a.m., lifting at home, throwing countless pitches in her basement and working with her pitching coach, Clint Wilson, McAllister has consistently shown a next-level work ethic. All that tireless effort paid off when the righty made her college choice in October 2019 to attend Evansville.
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Attending elite camps and still getting college exposure during the COVID-19 pandemic was difficult, but not an impossible task to get McAllister where she needed to be.
“When I had my final list of colleges that I was going through … Evansville, obviously, being the one on top,” said the 2019 Illinois Coaches Association second-team all-stater, who made the pick to be an Ace over Valparaiso and Bradley.
“I made a couple final phone calls to colleges, asked my last few questions, really made sure I went through the team chemistry. I was going to be happy at the school,” she said. “My major fit where I wanted to go, because I wanted to go somewhere I would have that great softball team and that great academic standpoint as well, so that was a big factor for me.
“Evansville ended up being on top.”
College, however, can wait for McAllister and the Turks (15-2), who heads to Taylor Ridge at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday and faces Rockridge (24-0). The Rockets have eliminated Tremont the past two postseasons.
And McAllister knows what must be done to keep the season alive.
“I’m going to have really work my pitches, make sure my spin is going,” she said, “but most importantly, we’re really going to work our offense. Making sure we’re scoring those offense. We can play the best defense, but in the end, it comes down to the runs.https://a77d1948ee6da56f819d81ea9c2d01f5.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html
“I’m going to doing my job on the mound, and my team’s going to have my back at the plate. … You never know what can happen.”
Adam Duvall is a Journal Star sports reporter. Email him at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @AdamDuvall.