No wins, but valuable experience for Bartlett at Stone City

MINOOKA - They may not show as wins on the record, but the Bartlett softball team may have played its two most important games of the season Saturday.

Taking on No. 2 Sandburg then top-ranked and undefeated Normal West back-to-back at the Stone City Jamboree, the Hawks lost twice, but gained valuable experience heading into next week's Class 4A postseason.

And they may have come away with a split had it not been for a controversial non-call that cost the Hawks the winning run in the bottom of the seventh against Sandburg.

Down 4-1 going into their last at-bat, the Hawks (24-10) battled back when Megan Morales drew a bases-loaded walk off Sandburg reliever Lora Olson to score Chelsea Klein, who had singled, to make it a 4-2 game. Nicole Beck then came to the plate and delivered a single up the middle that scored Callie Dennison to make it 4-3. Bartlett coach Jim Wolfsmith had pinch-runner Steph Tomazin going all the way from second but Sandburg's relay was perfect and Tomazin was called out at the plate, the second out of the inning.

Problem was, though, Bartlett's coaching staff and a large majority of the substantial crowd watching the game believed Kansas-bound Sandburg catcher Lexi Bryant should have been called for obstruction. The home plate umpire, though, stuck with his out call.

Lisa Matsie then drilled a shot up the middle that could have won the game but it glanced off the glove of Loyola-bound Sandburg pitcher Brittany Gardner, who had started the game and then re-entered after Beck's single, to the Eagles' shortstop, who was able to retrieve the ball and throw to second in time to nip Beck for the third out.

Playing the international tiebreaker, Sandburg (33-2) scored in the top of the eighth and even though Bartlett got the tying run to third in the bottom of the inning, the Eagles held on for the 5-4 win.

Then, a quick sandwich later, the Hawks batted first against Normal West (31-0). Dennison led off with the first of her 2 doubles in the game and with one out Lauren Chuchvara singled, Dennison stopping at third. Wolfsmith then called for a squeeze bunt with Beck, who laid down a good one but was called out for being out of the batter's box. Wolfsmith and the Bartlett coaches argued vehemently, even pointing out what they believed to be Beck's footprint in the batter's box, but it was to no avail.

Normal West then scored 3 runs in the bottom of the first and went on to a 6-0 win.

"It changed the complexion of the game," said Wolfsmith of the call on Beck. "That's not to say we would have won or lost but it changed the complexion of the game. But you can't do anything about it and their pitcher (Erin Huddleston) did a nice job and they hit the ball well against Callie. But those two calls took a lot out of our aggressiveness."

But to Wolfsmith the bottom line wasn't as much about winning or losing on Saturday, it's about winning next week. The Hawks open the postseason against Wheaton Warrenville South at the West Chicago regional Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.

"Mission accomplished," said Wolfsmith, whose team takes the same record into the postseason it had last year when it made a run to supersectional. "We were hoping to get a win or two here today but I felt we played well and represented the Upstate Eight Conference well against the two best teams in the state. We can take that into next week."

South Elgin 9, Elgin 2: The Storm celebrated Senior Day by downing Elgin in an Upstate Eight game. Katelyn Stonecipher, Alysa Krause, Sam Bolin and Kara Rodriguez each hit home runs for South Elgin and Courtney Bosteder had a double. Rodriguez had 4 RBI, Stonecipher 3 and Krause 2. Bolin (10-10) earned the win, allowing just 3 hits with 3 strikeouts and 1 walk. Losing pitcher Hannah Perryman had 2 hits and 2 RBI for Elgin (10-25, 4-16).

East Aurora 10, South Elgin 8: The Storm (14-18, 9-11) couldn't complete the sweep, falling to East Aurora in the regular-season finale. Danielle Susman was 3-for-3 with a double and 2 RBI for South Elgin, while Sara Irving had a 2-run home run. Courtney Bosteder added 2 hits including a double and Sam Bolin had 2 hits. Xenia Cerda took the loss in the circle.

Huntley loses 2: Huntley (21-12) lost a nonconference doubleheader to Wauconda by scores of 5-4 and 8-0. In the opener, Amanda Wisniewski was 3-for-3 with two home runs and a double for the Red Raiders, while Randi Peterson also homered and had 2 RBI. Kelsey Hagan added 2 hits and Taylor Larson (18-9) was the losing pitcher. Tara Lycos had Huntley's only hit in Game 2. Haylee Hanson (1-2) took the loss.