Montmarquette, Maine West play long ball
Brie Montmarquette has the longest last name of any Maine West softball player.
The junior third baseman also had the longest hits for the Warriors on Tuesday afternoon in Park Ridge.
Montmarquette hit a pair of 3-run homers, the second a rocket over the left field fence that tied Maine South at 10-10 with two outs in the top of the seventh inning.
With new life, Warriors ace Ariel Valles held the Hawks scoreless their next two at-bats and she scored the winning run with one out in the top of the eighth inning.
After doubling to left with one out and stealing third base, Valles came home on Gina Larucci’s infield hit for what proved to be the game-winner.
The Hawks got runners on second (Maddy Vogg) and third (Nicole Johnson, who was 4-for-5) in the bottom half of the inning when Valles got a strikeout and groundout to second baseman Angela Cruz that gave West the dramatic and wild 11-10, eight-inning triumph.
The Warriors (6-6), who scored 6 runs in the third inning to wipe out a 3-0 deficit, were down to their last out when Montmarquette hit a rope over the left field fence with Cruz and Larucci on base.
“I thought that homer would have rolled all the way to Devon Avenue if it weren’t for that second fence back there,” said Valles, who improved to 5-3. “We definitely all pulled together to win this one.”
Montmarquette, whose first 2 homers of the season Tuesday doubled her total of last season, went 2-for-4 with 6 RBI.
“I just came into the game clear-headed and what happens, happens,” she said. “The team needed me to come through. I’ve just been working on keeping my eye on the ball and being more selective with the pitches I’m getting. And my teammates just kept cheering me on. That’s what keeps me going.”
Valles was not only going strong on the mound in the last two innings, but in the batter’s box, too.
Valles (3-for-4) came up with a leadoff triple to spark the Warriors’ 4-run seventh and then got things going again with a one-out double in the eighth.
“Ariel started both our rallies,” said Warriors coach Amy Gonzales. “She is such a well-rounded player.”
Valles tossed a no-hitter against Maine South a year ago.
“This game was so different,” she said. “The wind (blowing toward left and center field) definitely made a difference. The ball was really carrying (off the bats).”
The Hawks (3-3), who finished with a season-high 21 hits, broke open a 6-6 tie with 4 runs in the bottom of the sixth.
They received back-to-back home runs from Regan Carmichael and Kaitlyn Mullarkey, their first ones of the season.
A double by Maddy Voggs gave the Hawks a 10-6 lead.
Mullarkey (4-for-5) hit for the cycle with a triple in the first single in the third and double in the fifth.
Other top hitters for West were Larucci (3-for-5, 3 RBI), Cruz (2-for-5) and Renee Pond (2-for-4).
“We knew Brie’s a good hitter,” Gonzales added. “She only had a few at-bats early in the season because of an Achilles injury.
“It was a good game, a win that we really needed after we didn’t score the day before (3-0 loss at Rolling Meadows). This is the kind of boost we needed to continue to move forward.”
Hawks coach Emmy Pasier’s team was playing its second straight extra-inning game after defeating Hoffman Estates 4-3 in nine innings on Monday.
“Kudos to Maine West,” Pasier said. “They got that feeling of scoring 6 runs in the third inning and then they did it again (with a big inning) in the seventh, and that’s what a quality team does.”
In between those big innings, Hawks junior pitcher Cara Laskowski (1-1) retired the side in order four times and faced four batters in another inning.
Junior Jenna Christie (2-2), who worked all nine innings for the win against Hoffman Estates, threw the final inning for Maine South on Tuesday.
“This was our first game in the real cold weather,” Pasier added. “So I was really happy. I have no gripes. This is Chicago weather. Like I told the girls, I thought we did a lot of good things in the game.”