AURORA -- If you need Lutheran junior pitcher Hailey Maestretti, she'll be in the ice bath in the training room at school for the next few days.
The Lions hurler was nothing short of amazing all year long for the reigning Class 3A champions in their move to Class 4A. She threw well over 2,000 pitches this season and might have saved her best effort for Saturday's Class 4A state title game against Holy Family at Aurora Sports Park. She struck out 17 Tigers en route to a 3-0 win and the schools first 4A title in the sport.
"I had that adrenaline going and it kept me up throughout the game," said Maestretti, who was masterful for the Lions all weekend, including Saturday's semifinal victory over Frederick. "Even with the 1-0 lead throughout, that was when (the adrenaline) was really high."
Said Lutheran coach Glen Maestretti (yes, that's Hailey's father): "I think the biggest difference today was her off speed pitch, the change-up. She just had them off balance and hat's off to the two seniors we have (Taylor Cramer and Faith Byler)."
Saturday's more than expected title game rematch from the first game of the season, when Holy Family hosted the Holy Wars, was a pitcher's duel from the start. Maestretti and Tigers freshman Emmaline Humphreys matched each other with big pitches and were both on their game for the first five innings.
The only difference was a Lions unearned run in the bottom of the second. Catcher Malea Yoxsimer's popup to the left side was just out of the reach of Holy Family shortstop Danielle Duran and Yoxsimer never stopped running, and after a couple of errors on the play, ended up at third base. She would come around to score two batters later on Aleksia Severson's grounder to third.
It would stay 1-0 through five innings, and Lions coach Maestretti knew that his season-long grind of a Class 4A schedule prepared them for this moment.
"I intentionally loaded our schedule up with the top 4A and 5A teams just for this moment and this playoff run," he said.
The Lions got the much needed cushion in the sixth inning. Leadoff walks to Mackenzie Glenn (that one forced Humphreys from the game) and Hailey Maestetti off of Izzy Arroyo put the pressure on the Tigers defense. Last year's 4A hero, Arroyo, got the next two batters but couldn't get Byler. She came up with a clutch single to left that scored two insurance runs.
The rest was on Hailey Maestratti's left arm to close it out. And the hardest thing to do in sports is close out a game.
After a leadoff single from Holy Family catcher Makaila Moosbrugger and a one-out single from Humphreys, Glen Maestretti went out to the circle for a quick conference.
"I told them the runner on third doesn't mean a thing and neither did the other one," he said. "But a tough team like that is going to test you."
Maestretti capped off her 17 strikeout day by getting Tigers pinch hitter Brissa Campos-Aragon and Mari Nanez both to whiff.
It was a tough setback for the Tigers, that had won three of the past four 4A titles. But don't feel sorry for them, both Humphreys (freshman) and Arroyo (sophomore) will both be back for another run in 2023.
"We have some excellent talent coming back and we are excited to see where this team will go," Holy Family coach Moriah Nguyen said. "I'm excited for the years to come."