NORMAL — Geneseo Middle School softball closed its first state tournament appearance with a fourth-place finish Saturday at the IESA Class 3A State Tournament at Champion Fields.

Geneseo fell to Olympia Middle School 14-7 in the semifinals before dropping the third-place game to Frankfort Hickory Creek, 8-3. The two losses were Geneseo's first of the season after entering Saturday undefeated.

Against Olympia, Geneseo answered an early 2-0 deficit to tie the game in the first inning, but Olympia pulled ahead with three runs in the second and five more in the third. Geneseo rallied for five runs in the fifth, highlighted by a two-run double from Mara Castro and an RBI single from Emerson Babcock.

Sienna Temperley led Geneseo with three hits, while Castro drove in two runs. Samantha Minnaert-Yocum worked 4⅔ innings in relief, allowing three earned runs.

In the third-place game, Frankfort Hickory Creek built an early lead with three runs in each of the first two innings and went on to defeat Geneseo 8-3. Elia Patikowski, Castro and Lucy Johnson each had a hit for Geneseo, while Babcock drove in a run.

Despite the two Saturday losses, the tournament capped a historic season for the fifth-year GMS softball program. Congratulations ladies!