Goldsmith, West Chicago rally for victory
It wasn't easy, but somehow West Chicago pitcher Amy Goldsmith and her softball teammates stayed positive just long enough to pull out a big win at Neuqua Valley on Wednesday.
The visiting Wildcats lost star Jenna Foreman to a knee injury during warmups, then looked a little listless for five innings while falling behind by three runs as Neuqua Valley pitcher Julia Rainer was working on a perfect game.
But Goldsmith kept the game tight, tried her darnedest to keep the team's spirits up, and somehow West Chicago (4-2-1, 1-1) tallied one run in the sixth and then six runs in the seventh to pull out a 7-3 Upstate Eight Conference win in Naperville.
"It's really important to not give up on your team," said Goldsmith, who struck out 11 hitters on Wednesday while improving to 3-1 on the year. "Because obviously things started out rough. But I had to have faith in them and faith in myself to come back from that."
Foreman, the team's lead-off hitter, center fielder and No. 2 pitcher, has been bothered some by a sore knee but seemed to aggravate the injury minutes before the first pitch at Neuqua Valley.
Neuqua Valley struck first when Jessie Boudreau singled and scored on an error in the second inning. The hosts then tallied two more times in the third after Julia Huebner led off with a single and Jenny Budds followed with deep triple to left. Budds scored when a high popup off the bat of Dominica Lange landed untouched near the edge of the infield.
The scored remained 3-0 through five innings as Rainer retired all 15 batters she faced. But Hollie Donovan broke up the perfect game with a single to open the top of the sixth. She stole second and then scored on an error after Ellie Braun laid down a sacrifice bunt.
With the score 3-1 heading to the seventh, reliever Molly Price came in to try and secure the win, but everything came apart for the hosts following a leadoff walk to Hannah Gehlhar. Raquel Donovan then hit a soft liner that just did elude the first baseman.
With two on and none out, West Chicago turned to its bunting and speed game and before Neuqua Valley could record an out, seven straight batters had reached safely and six runs had scored, with just one hit, two errors and three straight fielder's choice plays that resulted in West Chicago runners advancing safely.
"It helped us to put the ball down and to make them have to make decisions," West Chicago coach Kim Wallner said. "We do have some speed and we're trying to use our speed a little bit. I'm not sure we expected Neuqua to respond that way. I knew they were a good program, a good team."
Neuqua Valley coach Laura McCarthy, whose team is 3-11 after playing a rugged schedule so far, wishes her team could avoid seventh-inning struggles.
"Two games in particular before today we've fallen apart in the seventh inning," she said. "They didn't hit a ball hard on us in that inning. There's no reason to yell at them. They know it. They know how good they are and they know what they did today. We're a better team than that."
Goldsmith did her best to keep her team's spirits up after Foreman's injury, as well as not to think too much about whom they were up against. "That faith is really what did it. I was really loud on the bench and that was kind of contagious," she said. "All the members stepped up on the team. Once we started to string things together it worked out.
"It's also really important not to think too much. Obviously, they're Neuqua and they've got a really good reputation. But you have to have a short memory and try and not even think about that. They're another team. They get ready the same way we do."