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Winkleman hit in seventh inning drops Montini

With the way this softball game was going, it only made sense that it came down to a 3-2 pitch with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the seventh.

With two strong teams - with a combined record of 21-2 - battling in a 1-1 contest, Montini senior pitcher Lauren Trojnar needed to be on target with her 3-2 offering to St. Francis freshman Shelby Winkleman on Friday afternoon. Trojnar was indeed on target, but Winkelman slapped a hard grounder up the middle to bring home Bailey Zydek with the winning run in the 2-1 win by the Spartans (11-1, 2-0) in Wheaton.

Trojnar had fallen behind in the count 2-0 before battling back to 2-2. Her fifth pitch was close enough to make the Spartans sweat a little, but the home plate umpire called it ball three and that set the stage for the rookie's heroics.

"I was scared at first, but I took a couple breaths," Winkleman admitted of the close call on the 2-2 pitch. "It felt real good to win this one. Emotions were flying. I was just glad I got it in."

Winkleman's first varsity walk-off hit made a winner of Spartans pitcher Emma Chapman (6-1), who was sharp all day while limiting the Broncos to just four hits.

The game was scoreless until the bottom of the fourth when Winkleman singled and moved up to third on a wild pitch. She then scored on Chapman's sacrifice fly to left, just sliding in under the tag at home plate to make the score 1-0.

But Montini (11-2, 0-1) drew even with a two-out rally in the fifth that started with an infield single by leadoff hitter Bell Alexander. After a walk to Amy Bukovsky, freshman Nicole Cuchran singled home the Broncos only run.

Chapman retired seven of the final eight Broncos hitters and kept the game tied at 1-1 until her team pulled it out with a run in the bottom of the seventh.

"We've been scoring a lot of runs, so more credit goes to them," Montini coach Mike Bukovsky said. "We did look at three strike threes and that's inexcusable. That takes the bat out of your hand and puts a lot less pressure on the defense. Our bats weren't there today, but their pitcher, Emma, did a nice job."

St. Francis coach Ralph Remus was all smiles after pulling out the thriller, which felt more like a postseason affair than an April contest.

"In some cases I would like every game to be like that, but I'm not sure my stomach could take it," he said. "It really did (have a playoff feel). It was like it was a state tournament game. Obviously, they're a good team and we felt good that we played with them the whole game. It was a clean game for us. That's what I liked."

Chapman likes that this year's veteran team has played well from opening day.

"With eight seniors it's like we're all kind of leading the team," she said. "We only lost two players from last year so it's nice to have a lot back. I thought I threw the ball well today, but it was really the defense behind me that kept me going."

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