Plainfield East baseball wins school’s first state title in any sport
PLAINFIELD, Ill. (BVM) — Since Plainfield East High School opened its doors in 2008, no athletic program had won a state title. But one magical season this spring by the Bengals’ baseball team changed history forever.
After a 3-0 victory over Brother Rice in the super-sectional round, the Bengals were set to do battle with 25-2 Rockton Hononegah. After starting the season 5-12 and earning a No. 13 seed in their sectional, the Bengals were certainly seen as underdogs in this one, coming in with a 17-15 record.
Hononegah was also making its first trip to state this season, but had a dominant campaign throughout. However, the Cinderella team in Plainfield East continued its magic in a 5-3 victory, led by sophomore Brady Louck who struck out 12 batters over six innings pitched.
From there, the Bengals took on Lake Park — another dominant team at 33-4 on the year — in the Class 4A state championship game. Louck would again star in the title game, this time at the plate, going 2–for–4 with two RBIs and a run scored. Christian Mitchelle also contributed a pair of hits and RBIs as well as a run scored.
The success helped the Bengals jump out to a strong 6-0 lead, and they would hold that mark all the way until the sixth inning. At that point, pitcher Gavin Schmitt — who had been dominant all game — began unraveling a bit, as Lake Park scored five runs to narrow the deficit to one.
However, Mitchelle came in to pitch the final inning and a third, and he shut down Lake Park. In the sixth, he struck out the final batter of the inning to preserve the one-run lead. In the seventh, he retired the first two batters, but then gave up a walk. With the tying run on base, Mitchelle would record the final out, earning his second save of the day and a state title for the Bengals.
STATE CHAMPS! #BengalPride pic.twitter.com/7mFEtL3kvR
— PEHS Athletics (@PEHS_Athletics) June 20, 2021
The underdog is always one to cheer for in sports, and this Plainfield East squad is the definition of it. Entering the postseason at just 12-15, the Bengals rattled off seven wins in a row, and changed the history of their program, school and community.
