Willowbrook bats blast away

Willowbrook had to overcome a lot on Saturday but had just the softball batting order to pull it off.

The Warriors fell behind 4-0 after one inning at Hinsdale Central and later saw an 8-6 lead disappear in the bottom of the seventh when Red Devils shortstop Annie Bruns belted a clutch 2-run home run. But the visitors just kept swinging away, picking up three more hits while scoring twice in the eighth on their way to a 10-8, extra-inning win in the first of two games Saturday.

In the nightcap the bats stayed hot in an 8-5 triumph that completed the sweep of Hinsdale Central (1-2).

"We came into this game knowing it would be a hitting battle. Last year it was a hitting battle and it was the same way this year," said Willowbrook coach Rachel Karos after her team recorded 17 hits in the opener. "Timing kind of worked out in our favor, this game; just about where we were in the lineup. Coming out down 4-0 after that first inning, I'm real proud of the fact that we hung in there."

It helps to have sluggers like Sam Schmidt and Alyssa Ressinger in the lineup, but the Warriors picked up hits from eight of its nine starters in the Game 1 victory. Schmidt, a Northern Illinois-bound shortstop, went 3-for-5 with 2 runs scored, but it was Ressinger who really sparked the comeback win.

Ressinger walked and scored the Warriors first run in the second and then smacked an opposite-field 2-run homer in the third that was part of a 3-run rally to draw even at 4-4. Ressinger finished the game 3-for-4 with a walk and 4 runs scored.

"It feels good to be hitting well again. I feel like this game brought our confidence up as hitters," said Ressinger, who missed the end of the basketball season after suffering a fractured fibula. "I think the energy was really good in the dugout and we all fed off each others' hits and energy, so that was a big part of the game."

Warriors starter Zoe Dannenberg (2-1), meanwhile, settled down some after the 4-run first, and had an 8-6 lead heading to the bottom of the seventh after her teammates scored three times in the fifth and after Dannenberg herself doubled and scored in the sixth.

But the Red Devils, who had 16 hits of their own, extended the game after Taylor Glenn opened the seventh with a double off the wall and Bruns, only a sophomore, sent a ball high over the wall in left-center. Bruns, who doubled home a pair of runs in the first inning, went 2-for-4 with a walk and 4 RBI in Saturday's first game.

"I thought we hit well and we played well in the field too. They just outhit us and did a good job," said Hinsdale Central coach Lee Maciejewski. "We played good defense. If we didn't play good defense they would have scored a lot more."

In the nightcap Dannenberg hit a home run for Willowbrook and Delaney Pelsor earned the win as the visitors improved to 3-2 on the year.