Updated June 6, 2026, 8:15 p.m. CT
The Illinois High School Association softball state championships were Saturday, June 6 at the Louisville Slugger Sports Complex on the University of Illinois campus.
Here is a game-by-game look at each championship, updated as games finish:
2026 IHSA softball state championship scores, recap, title results
Class 1A: Dakota 2, Waltonville 1
Following a state fourth-place finish last season, seventh-ranked Dakota won the program’s first-ever state championship thanks to some heads-up baserunning. The Indians benefited from Hailey Kerchner reaching on a base hit to left, then went all the way to third on a fielding error in the top of the seventh. She then scored the game-winning run on a throwing error.
Dakota (31-4) had trailed 1-0 until the sixth inning when Finley Banks tied the game. Her triple to left field scored Dawson Lawler, who had reached on an infield single.
No. 2 Waltonville (33-7) took an early one-run advantage when Elyssa Schoenbaechler doubled to left, bringing home Briley Williams. Williams’ two-out single started the rally.
Schoenbaechler took the loss, scattering four hits, walking two and striking out seven. AJ Howarth pitched an efficient four-hit gem with one strikeout and no walks on 81 pitches.
Class 2A: Carterville 3, Seneca 1
Top-ranked Carterville bounced back from last season’s state runner-up finish to make it two state championships in three seasons. The top-ranked Lions (39-1) got a single run in the third — an RBI-single from Colbie Bennett (3-for-3) — and two more runs in the fifth inning off an error and Savannah Gibbs’ run-scoring sacrifice bunt.
Caidence Phillips did the rest for Carterville, tossing a complete-game, six-hitter with no walks and nine strikeouts on 102 pitches. The senior finishes the season with a 24-0 record and 324 strikeouts.
No. 3 Seneca (39-3), which was playing at the state finals for the first time in program history, got its lone run in the bottom of the seventh. Courtesy runner Brynlee Hunt scored from first on a two-out, outfield fielding error.
Illinois State signee Hayden Pfeifer (22-1) suffered her first loss of the season for Seneca with five strikeouts and three walks, giving up two hits in 4.0 innings. Graysen Provance had two of Seneca’s six hits.
Class 3A: Antioch 7, Chatham Glenwood 2
No. 2 Antioch broke through for the program’s first-ever state championship following state runner-up finishes in 2023 and 2024. The Sequoits (34-3) scored five runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to take a 7-2 lead, using three doubles, one single, an error and a walk. Samantha Hillner’s two-RBI double was the big blow in the inning.
Top-ranked Chatham Glenwood (30-3), which was looking to win back-to-back titles, had cut a two-run deficit in half during the top of the fourth inning. Jemma Lamb’s run-scoring single to right field scored Hope Gilmore, who reached second on a two-base error to lead off the inning.
But Antioch used its fifth inning to put the game out of reach. Rylee Dunlavy went 2-for-3 as the Sequoits had six hits and drew two walks.
Lamb went 3-for-3, driving home Glenwood’s second run of the game with a double. CG starter Irie Lohrenz (19-3) pitched 4 innings with three strikeouts, one walk and allowed three hits.
Class 4A: Lincoln-Way West 6, Mundelein 1
In Lincoln-Way West’s first-ever state finals trip, the sixth-ranked Warriors (30-7) are heading home with the biggest trophy in the largest of the IHSA’s four classes. West overcame a one-run deficit to score six unanswered runs from the third to seventh innings. Paige Seivert had a big hand in five of those runs.
The senior outfielder served up three RBIs along with crossing the plate twice. She tied the game on a RBI-fielder’s choice in the top of the third. Seivert (2-for-4) then added the go-ahead runs with a two-RBI triple to right, scoring Reese Rourke and Holly Smith in the fourth.
A wild pitch then scored Seivert. She got on the board again in the seventh when Kaylea Armstrong (3-for-4) singled her home as part of a two-run seventh.
No. 16 Mundelein (23-6) got on the board thanks to a Lincoln-Way error that scored Kieley Tomas (2-for-4). Shae Johnson (20-4) took the loss, allowing 10 hits, six earned runs, three walks and striking out four.
Abby Brueggmann (23-6) picked up the pitching victory with a complete game five-hitter with two strikeouts and a walk.
(This story was updated to add new information.)
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