BRIMFIELD — Two breakout freshman pitchers? A high-powered offense? 17 wins in a row?

None of those storylines from the Brimfield/Elmwood softball season have come as a shock to Kurt Juerjens. The Indians are riding high as they host a Class 2A regional, facing fifth-seed Illinois Valley Central in a 4:30 p.m. Wednesday semifinal.

“We have kids that play a lot and work hard at their game,” the 10-year coach said, “so I’m not surprised by that either.”

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Losing Maddie Hessing to graduation left a big hole in the circle. Enter Sawyer Drury and Schyer Meinders, who both are getting their first taste of the varsity level. How has the duo adapted as ninth graders?

“It wasn’t like we thought they were incapable,” Juerjens said. “I guess it was just a question of girls when they’re younger, do they feel like they belong? Do they feel like they fit in or whatever and they do?”

Drury has emerged as the staff ace, eating up 76 innings with 100 strikeouts, a 1.57 ERA and a 9-0 record. The righty has a trio of signature wins in defeating Dunlap, Tremont and Illinois Valley Central.

Meinders comes in at 10-2 with a 1.99 ERA and 71 strikeouts over 49.1 innings.

“I expected them to do a really good job,” junior Kierra Johnson said, “because they put in a lot of work. I’m actually really proud of them for how they’ve done this year. They’ve handled a lot of adversity.”

Brimfield, though, has experienced little to no difficulty at the plate.

Johnson has been the catalyst for the team offense batting .388 with 81 extra base hits (41 doubles, 17 triples and 23 home runs) and averaging a shade over 10 runs a game. She’s hitting a team-best .536 off 37 hits with nine doubles, four triples and nine homers in helping Brimfield score 11 runs or more on nine occasions.

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“I just learned not to put so much pressure on myself,” the shortstop said, “because that’s when I don’t do as well.

“We’re (all) thinking like, ‘Just being aggressive. Moving runners.’ … Not trying to do too much because we really struggled in the beginning of the season because we were all trying to do too much.”

But Johnson isn’t alone in her offensive prowess. Junior outfielder Kylee Vaughn (.500, 4 homers, 24 RBIs), senior second baseman Ella Florey (.470, 5 triples, 20 RBIs), outfielder Kate Yemm (.403, 23 RBIs) and junior catcher CJ Troxell (.389, 6 homers, 23 RBIs) make up a pretty potent lineup.

In fact, Troxell has shown an impressive amount of patience at the plate, walking 21 times this season.

“Everyone takes a really good approach,” she said. “We are aggressive on the first pitch, which I think is huge. … I think everyone just taking a lot better at-bats, not swinging at the junk. More of taking the best pitcher for them.”

Team chemistry has been a big reason for winning 17 in a row, according to several of the players. It seems like everyone has been playing together for so long, it’s gotten to the point where they are constantly talking as well as providing in-game scouting reports to each other.

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It has paid off, especially at the plate, or as the adage goes, "hitting is contagious."

“We feed off each other,” Vaughn said. “... We just kind of play our own game. We don’t try to be someone we’re not and I think that’s just been really effective.”

Added Florey, “We do a lot of good teamwork together and work as a team and have fun. Everyone has each other’s backs, so if anyone’s down, we just get them up and then we’re back in it.”

Winning streak aside, Brimfield is poised to make a deep postseason run. Another regional championship would give the Indians back-to-back plaques for the first time since consecutive Elite Eight appearances and a 2015 2A state runner-up finish.

This would also be just the seventh sectional berth in program history, all coming in the last 15 years.

“It only matters that you play (your) best when you need to at the end of the year,” Juerjens said, “and so we’re playing really well right now.”

Adam Duvall is a Journal Star sports reporter. Email him at aduvall@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @AdamDuvall.

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Brimfield/Elwmood softball rides 17-game win streak into IHSA playoffs