Sacrifice fly stops ALAH baseball in sectional semifinals

By Editor | June 9, 2026 |

By Mike Monahan

ALTAMONT – Sometimes it is the little things that win a game for a baseball team and that is what happened in the IHSA Class 1A baseball sectional semifinal; one where the winner Cumberland or Arthur Lovington Atwood Hammond was going to reach the Sweet 16 for the first time in program or as in ALAH’s case programs (Arthur, Arthur-Lovington co-op, Arthur-Lovington or ALAH) history.

It was Cumberland, who came away with the win by a sacrifice fly by Adyn Heuerman, scoring Kade McMechan to give the Pirates a 5-4 lead in the ninth inning.

“I was questioning that a little bit (whether to send him or not), but at the end of the day you have to take the runs where you can get them,” said first-year Cumberland coach Chase Thies, a 2018 Stewardson-Strasburg grad, who played for W/SS and went on to play at Knox College. “So, we were going to risk it no matter what. The centerfielder made a really good throw. Adyn Heuerman had been making good swings all year as a freshman. So, I have a lot of trust in him and he just got the job done.”

The Knights went down in order and the Pirates had done the improbable, going from the No. 7 seed in the Altamont Sub-Sectional A (out of 10 teams) to the final 16 teams in the state by beating No. 2 seed Altamont 1-0; the No 3 seeded WSS, 4-3 and now knock off the No. 1 seed in the Altamont sub-sectional B, ALAH by one also.

“It means a lot (to make the sweet 16 (second team in program history to win a regional),” said Thies. “From starting the season at 3-11 when a lot of people were counting us out and a lot of the boys were even counting themselves out. I gave them a goal of winning a regional championship to start the season. They have already exceeded that and have done something the program has never done before and it is a great feeling.”

The Pirates, who are in the National Trail Conference, which plays its conference season in the fall for the first time, started what turned out to be an 11-3 run (lost in the sectional championship to North Clay/Clay City, 17-4) by beating Arcola 7-6. The Knights, a member of the Lincoln Prairie Conference, beat Cumberland , a team that was in the LPC last year,7-6 on April 13.

The Knights finished 21-10. It was the fourth straight winning season, which ties with the teams from 2002-2005 and the first 20 plus winning season since the 2005 team (of which ALAH coach David McGrath was a member of) went 30-6 as Arthur-Lovington Co-op.

“Jones comes at you and we talked about that,” said McGrath. “The last time we saw him he used a lot of fastballs. We talked about how we have to compete and we have to choke up as he has some really good velocity. We had to make some adjustments early in the game when the first two or three innings we hit the ball in the air and they were flyouts and things of that nature. Still, good solid contact, but in the air too long where they could get under it and track it down.”

Four of the first nine outs for ALAH were in the air.

“We talked with our guys and told them we have to think more ground balls and low line drives,” said McGrath. “Something we can get guys on and put some pressure on them. We did that in the fifth getting three runs there.”

Cumberland got on the board first in the third when Bryson Weber, the No 9 batter, singled to left, advanced to second on an error and third on a wild pitch. He scored after Maddox Miller walked and Kade McMechan hit a ground out for a 1-0 lead. Miller advanced to third and scored on a sacrifice fly by Jones.

“To get the lead first is something I talked to them about at the start of the week,” said Thies. “Arrthur is such a good hitting team (averaged nine runs per game heading into the contest) that we have to get ahead early and maybe we can stay ahead the whole time. We got close to it. We knew it was going to be a back-and-forth game.

Our game plan was just that we wanted Grady Jones (Shawnee Community College commit) to throw as many innings as he possibly could,” said Theis. “Our outlook was he has to pitch to even play in the dance. We would have him come out there and do what he does. It was not really what we were hoping for; a few less runs, but at the end of the day you can’t ask anymore of him throwing 115 pitches.”

The back-and-forth part of the game started in the fifth when Lucas Butcher walked and with one out and Gage Hilton, who came in to be a courtesy runner for Butcher, moved into scoring position with a wild pitch. He went to third on a single by Logan Schrock and scored on a ground out by John Williams for the Knights first run. Will Hilligoss singled putting runners on the corners when Marcus Otto smacked a double to left, plating Hilligoss and Schrock.

In the seventh the Pirates, who finished 14-14, started with a four pitch walk to Weber and he advanced to second on a wild pitch and went to third on a single by Miller. McMechan doubled to center to tie the game at three and a sacrifice fly by Jones made it 4-3, Pirates.

The Knights didn’t take long to tie the game as Hilligoss led off with a four pitch walk and with one out Max Boddy doubled to score Hilligoss.

In the ninth Cumberland’s McMechan reached on an error and with one out McElravy singled and both runners moved up to second and third respectively with one out when Lane Lock reached on an error to load the bases for the winning run.

‘It was never a doubt that to me that we could win a regional,” said McGrath. “ I always knew what we were capable of, it was more so they knew what they were capable of and sometimes that is hard. We had to have a lot of heart to heart talks with the boys and understand where they are at. I think they finally are skiing what they are capable of.”

McGrath said Cumberland plays with confidence and are a solid team all around.

“They don’t make errors (one) and Grady Jones pitches with confidence and he has an infield and outfield that plays with confidence and that makes a big difference.” said McGrath. “That really helps our pitchers out when you have a defense that is confident and makes plays.”

Cumberland had two spectacular defensive plays, one in particular in the third when shortstop Kade McMechan, moved to his left, fielded the ball, and spun around, throwing a strike to first baseman Hudson McElravy for the first out. The other play was in the fourth when Jones fielded a one bouncer with his bare hand and threw to McElravy for the first out.

“I told the team in the outfield after the game that we have nothing to hang our heads on,’ said McGrath. “Did it end the way we wanted to?-No. Really it doesn’t end the way you want unless you win the state championship. We set a standard for our program going forward and did some good things. We played a tough non-conference schedule and put some of the pressure on the opponents in some games against bigger schools. I told them we want to win or compete in a regional championship every year. We want to go to sectionals and show that we are a team that competes.

We have a lot of guys coming back, but we lose three very important seniors in Butcher, Hilligoss and Schrock. When you think about those three (finished with a career mark of 64-36 (.640) best since the 2002-2005 teams went 93-24 .795). When you think about what all three of them have done for us they are going to be hard to replace. But we are going to put the work in and keep moving forward.”

Class 1A sectional championship at Altamont, May 3

Cumberland 002 000 201–5-9-1

ALAH 000 030 100–4-8-4

Winning pitcher: Hudson McElravy 1 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 1 strikeouts, 0 walks; Starter: Grady Jones 8 innings, 8 hits, 4 runs, 4 earned, 6 walks, 7 strikeouts

Losing pitcher: Jansen Burnett 3 innings, 3 hits, 2 runs, 2 earned, 3 walks, 1 strikeout; Starter: John Williams 4 innings, 4 hits, 2 runs, 2 earned, 2 strikeouts, 2 walks; relief: Max Boddy 2 innings, 1 hit, 1 run, 0 earned, 0 walks, 0 strikeout

CUMBERLAND: Maddox Miller 2-for-4, stolen base, 2 runs; Kade McMechan 1-for-5, double, run, 2 RBis; Grady Jones 2 RBIs; McElravy 3-for-4; Adyn Heuerman sacrifice, RBI; Reed Miller 2-for-5; Bryson Weber 1-for-3, 2 runs

ALAH: Williams 1-for-3, stolen base, RBI; Will Hilligoss 1-for-3, 2 runs; Marcus Otto 1-for-5, double, 2 RBis; Boddy 1-for-5, double, RBI; Gage Hilton run; Donovan Vanausdoll 1-for-4; Logan Schrock 3-for-4, run

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