Apr. 23—LEROY — From just about anywhere in the building, you could tell when the LeRoy softball team arrived for The News-Gazette Faces of the Spring event on March 1.

Just before noon, in walked the Panthers' six seniors — Morgan Fleming, Laila Carr, Kendyl Spratt, Molly Scheuer, Khloe Builta and Alyssa Davis — all with their two state medals jingling around their necks from their Class 1A third-place finish in 2023 and 1A runner-up showing in 2025.

Before long, Fleming and Carr were in The News-Gazette conference room reflecting on their first experience at the state finals under coach Doug Hageman.

"Crazy," Fleming said. "Crazy that we could be a part of it as freshmen. It was the coolest experience for everybody. Coach Hageman had never been to state before, and it was so cool for everybody."

She started laughing at her own redundancy, adding that "cool and crazy are our words."

As Carr prepared to share her perspective, she started to crack, too.

"I don't want to say 'cool' or 'crazy,'" Carr said with a laugh before eventually finding her own words. "We just continued to win, and it was surreal because we didn't have that end goal in mind. We were just playing to play. The furthest we had ever won before was a regional championship, and we always lost in sectionals. We kept winning, and we were just on a high. It was so amazing."

At the time, that was the Panthers' best season in program history, winning a single-season-record 33 games, the last one earning them third place in their first-ever state tournament appearance.

Last year, LeRoy took it to another level, winning 35 games and making it one step further by advancing to the state championship game.

And if the start of this season is any indication, the Panthers could very well be heading back to Peoria the first weekend in June. LeRoy is currently sporting a perfect 22-0 record, besting last year's record win streak of 19 to start the season, and are ranked third in this week's Illinois Coaches Association 1A poll.

"It's cool that we all get to experience this together," Fleming said. "Our team chemistry has always been our best feature, and that's what makes us so successful. We've never had a year where that's failed us. We have so many dedicated girls who put in so much work. Some teams, you have like three good girls who carry the team, but with us, everybody wants to be the best, and it drives us forward."

The expectations couldn't be higher for this group of Panthers. The current seniors came in as freshmen and were immediately on the state's biggest stage. With no seniors on that 2023 team, they knew they'd be playing for a state title soon enough, and it happened two years later.

"That became the next goal. That became the standard for us," Carr said. "It's a completely different mindset. My mindset from going into freshman year to this year has totally changed. Freshman year, I was just there to have fun and play softball, but now there's an end goal in mind. We're chasing something. We have higher expectations for ourselves, and we work harder than most groups do."

All it took was that first team to make it, and it opened the floodgates for the program to succeed like never before. Last year's senior class racked up a record 128 wins throughout their careers, but as long as this season keeps heading in this direction, the Class of 2026 is going to blow right past that number.

"After freshman year, so many more girls came out for softball," Fleming said. "It's great to see how our success encouraged them to go out for the sport."

LeRoy girls' athletics have been thriving for the last few years, with many of these softball players competing in multiple sports. The volleyball team won its fourth consecutive regional title in the fall, and the girls' basketball team put together another impressive season in the winter.

"We're leaving a legacy for all female athletes who are going to come through LeRoy, and it's really special to know we can do that and have those younger girls look up to us," Carr said. "We've paved the way for them, and I'm excited to see what LeRoy sports will look like 10 years from now."

Signed his letter of intent to continue his track and field career at Illinois College on April 16.

Haley Helm and Sophie Pentti combined to pitch a five-inning no-hitter to lead the Maroons to a 14-0 win against Urbana on April 16. Helm and Avery Ellison then teamed up to throw a five-inning no-hitter in an 11-0 win against Bloomington the next day.

Broke the Monticello Invitational 100-meter dash record with a time of 10.39 seconds last Friday.