Illinois Impact Fastpitch 14u wins NSA tournament championship

The Illinois Impact Fastpitch 14u softball team won The Howling, an NSA Fastpitch Softball World Qualifying Tournament, in Kankakee Oct. 20-21.

The team posted a 6-1 record and won all four elimination games on the final day of the tournament to capture the championship.

The team began the final day championship run with a walk-off triple by Madeleine Kiel to beat the Indiana Bulldogs 6-5. Impact then dominated the final three games by a combined score of 22-6 over the tournament's top three seeds, with an 8-3 final game victory.

Impact used a relentless offense (.343 team batting average), a stifling defense, and the pitching of Riley Hanrahan (3-0, 1 Save, 10 RBI, 4D) and Lesleigh Reimers (1-0) to complete the final day's four-game sweep. The offense was led by Madeleine Kiel (.474 batting average, 4 doubles, 1 triple and 9 RBI) Lilli Burton (.467 batting average, 3 doubles, 6 stolen bases) and Sydney Parker (.538 batting average, .750 on-base percentage.)

The team's manager, Neal Kahalnik, said, "You could see in their eyes after we took the second elimination game that confidence grew and the girls wanted this. They played together, focused on being patient at the plate, consistently ripped the ball and played almost errorless ball when it counted most, all with relentlessness in miserable weather conditions."

Illinois Impact Fastpitch is an A-level, college exposure program based in Mundelein and attracts players from schools in Lake, Cook, McHenry and Kenosha counties. The program has teams at the 14u, 16u and 18u levels.

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