St. Viator downs Burlington Central to claim 1st regional crown
Somebody had to break loose, and that somebody turned out to be the St. Viator Lions.
St. Viator scored 6 runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to erase a 3-2 deficit and beat Burlington Central 8-3 in the championship game of the Class 3A Hampshire sectional Saturday afternoon.
The Lions (20-17), who won the first softball regional crown in school history, will take on Sycamore Wednesday in the DeKalb sectional semifinals. Sycamore upset Kaneland Saturday.
"We just felt it was our year to win it and they did it," said seventh-year St. Viator coach Daniel Twarog. "It's been a heck of a May and now we're going to June."
The top-seeded Lions broke a scoreless tie with 2 runs off Burlington senior Jet Kein in the bottom of the fourth inning. Winning pitcher Julie Sweeney (3-for-4, 2 doubles) and Melanie Slawny reached with singles and both scored on Amanda Presslak's two-out hit.
But the Rockets (12-13), who were seeking the program's seventh straight regional title, came right back and tied the game in the top of the fifth. Kein (3-for-3) singled and Haley Albamonte walked. A two-base throwing error and Katie Maleski's groundout tied the game.
BC then took the lead in the sixth when senior Ashley Scheffler singled and scored on an outfield error when Abby Morrow singled.
But then the Lions roared, and with a big voice. Sweeney led off the bottom of the sixth with a double and that started a parade of 6 St. Viator hits in the inning. Slawny had an RBI double, Presslak an RBI fielder's choice, Taylor Lenart an RBI single, Torey Lenart an RBI double, Abby Dickey and RBI single and another run scored on an error.
"We hit the ball and we ran the bases tremendously," Twarog said.
Sweeney then set the Rockets down in order in the top of the seventh and finished the win with a strikeout. She allowed just 6 hits.
"She was energized by our defense," Twarog said. "We made a couple of outstanding plays and that allows a pitcher to say 'I can do it.' They put the ball in play and we made the plays."
Sweeney credited her defense as well.
"Our defense was incredible today," she said. "It started with a huge play from (Alexandra) Flasch at short and got better from there. We were determined the entire game. We knew this was a team that could make St. Viator history and we're not done yet."
For the Rockets it was a bitter end to a challenging season that saw them lose their head coach to a resignation midway through the campaign.
"We've had two fantastic coaches here for many years and it would have been nice to get this for them," said acting BC coach Lowell Oranger, referring to former Rocket coaches Wade Maisto and Scot Sutherland. "It just wasn't our day. We've had a lot of good days in the past and I just feel for the seniors. We never thought we were out of it and we never quit. But they put the ball where we weren't and we had a couple of errors that hurt. Jet pitched her heart out and that's a true testament to a senior."