Dominant Scott powered BC

Burlington Central senior pitcher Mackenzie Scott is simply overpowering.

In each of her 24 starts this season, most batters left the plate with the same puzzled and defeated look on their faces. It was almost as if they had stepped outside of high school softball for a day and into the college ranks.

Of course, certain hitters were able to catch up to Scott's fastball or riseball. When that happened, in came the changeup. No matter what pitch, it was an accomplishment just to make contact as Scott allowed just 1.6 hits per start.

"When she's on with that changeup, that's just fun to watch," said Central coach Scot Sutherland. "I get as much enjoyment out of watching it as she does throwing it and watching the hitters before it's halfway there, walking to the dugout. It's a beautiful thing to see when that pitch is really working."

Scott's performance in the circle led the Rockets to a third-place finish at the Class 3A State Finals in East Peoria, the program's best finish in school history. She finished her season at 21-3 with an astounding 0.20 ERA. She struck out 300 batters in 143 innings, good enough for 14.69 strikeouts per game. For these accomplishments, Scott has been selected as The Courier-News Pitcher of the Year.

"I just can't believe it's been over two weeks," Scott said of her team's trip to the State Finals. "It's really sinking in now. (Assistant coach Lowell Oranger) said we'd make it Downstate by our senior year and he was right."

As good as the Rockets were as a whole, for a team to make it Downstate, having a dominant pitcher is a necessity. So after Scott went down during the second week of practice due to a bad case of shin splints, the Rockets were unsure how the season would turn out.

"I knew a lot of our success was gonna depend on how well Mac threw," Sutherland said. "Then suffering the injury, I thought hopefully we'd still be fighting for the conference and we can get out of the regional. But as the year went on she kept getting stronger and stronger and those ideas and thoughts kept changing."

The injury turned out to work in the Rockets' favor. After missing close to three weeks, Scott returned to the team and reached her peak toward the end of the season and especially the postseason.

She led the Rockets to an undefeated run through Big Northern Conference play and an East Division title. In seven postseason games, Scott threw four shutouts, including a 20-strikeout no-hitter in a 1-0 regional title win over Kaneland. She ended her postseason slate with a 0.15 ERA and 88 strikeouts over 47 innings. Scott also delivered the game-winning two-run double in the third-place game against Glenbard South before striking out the final batter to end her high school career. A great showing in the State Finals for Scott, right?

"Downstate I didn't have that good of an appearance," Scott said. "It wasn't my best."

The Elgin Community College softball team will be happy to see that same kind of modest approach come next spring when Scott is in the circle.