advertisement

St. Edward 2nd, Hampshire 3rd at Chicagoland Challenge

Even though St. Edward's softball team didn't win its own Chicagoland Challenge tournament for the second year in a row Saturday, Green Wave coach Jaci Corn wasn't unhappy with her team's performance.

After beating Genoa-Kingston 10-4 in a game that didn't affect the bracket, and then downing Hampshire 3-0 on a 1-hitter from junior Lindsay Zdroik, St. Edward fell to Genoa 7-2 in the championship game of the tournament, which was hosted by St. Edward at the Wasco Diamonds' facility at Anderson Park in rural St. Charles.

St. Edward was without four starters, three of whom were taking the ACT test, for its first game which allowed Corn to see what some of her reserves could do.

"Overall it went well today," Corn said. "The first game we had several players step up and that got us going. Lindsay did her thing in the second game and we got some timely hits. Then we kind of lost some gas and Genoa did a good job of hitting the ball hard and we didn't hit as strongly as they did and we're used to."

In its opener against G-K, with Zdroik taking the ACT, sophomore Emily Stapay tossed a 6-hitter and the Wave broke the game open with a 7-run fifth inning.

The semifinal was all Zdroik. The Valparaiso recruit struck out 10, didn't walk a batter and allowed only a clean single to Hampshire sophomore Peyton DeChant, a Loyola commit. Senior Ryann Scully, who had a home run in Game 1, drove in all 3 runs for St. Edward, going 2-for-4 with a double.

Scully was named to the all-tournament team along with Zdroik and Stapay.

The Wave (12-2-1) pounded out 14 hits in the title game but Genoa (11-4) had 16, including a leadoff home run to start the game from catcher Kendyl Strack off Zdroik.

With a full slate of conference games this coming week, Corn pulled Zdroik after the first and the Cogs were able to take advantage of Stapay, who normally wouldn't pitch two games in one day.

Scully was 4-for-4 in the championship game while Zdroik and junior Allie Stratman each had 3 hits.

Hampshire finished off a productive week with a third-place finish.

The Whip-Purs (7-11) beat Illiana Christian 4-2 in their opener before falling to St. Edward, but bounced back to spank Farmington 12-2 in the third place game to finish off a 4-1 week.

"We all got off to a slow start this season but they've pulled together the past week," said Hampshire coach Stacey Stepek. "It started with the Huntley game and we've been hitting the ball hard, we've tightened up on defense, Haley (Widmayer) is throwing the ball real well and the overall vibe on the field has been a lot better. It's not how you start, it's how you finish. We just have to keep pushing through and get better each day."

Widmayer, an all-tournament selection, was the workhorse of the day in the circle, pitching all 20 innings the Whips played. She allowed 19 hits and had 25 strikeouts (13 against Farmington) and only 3 walks. She also went 3-for-4 with an RBI against Illiana and 2-for-4 against Farmington.

Hampshire made just 4 errors in the three games.

"Most of my pitches were working all day," Widmayer said. "I just tried to keep them off balance. We've done so much better eliminating the errors we were making. We're really working together as a team. I think we're over how we were playing before. We got all the kinks out. It's just been a matter of figuring out where everyone plays best and what's best for the team."

DeChant and Ellie Lapi were also named to the all-tournament team for Hampshire. DeChant went 2-for-4 in the win over Illiana and 4-for-4 against Farmington while Lapi was 5-for-8 in the two wins.

  Hampshire's Haley Widmayer reels in a pop up from St. Edward's Ryann Scully during the semifinals of the Chicagoland Challenge softball tournament at Anderson Park Saturday. Brian Hill/bhill@dailyherald.com
  St. Edward's Lindsay Zdroik picks up a grounder hit by Hampshire's Lauren Egger to throw her out at first during the semifinals of the Chicagoland Challenge softball tournament at Anderson Park Saturday. Brian Hill/bhill@dailyherald.com
  Hampshire catcher Ellie Lapi waits for the throw as St. Edward's Clarissa Vargas slides safely into home during the semifinals of the Chicagoland Challenge softball tournament at Anderson Park Saturday. Brian Hill/bhill@dailyherald.com
Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.