Wheaton Academy upends St, Francis
Small ball, speed and a few breaks thrown in along the way.
That was the formula Wheaton Academy used on Friday afternoon to sneak past visiting St. Francis 3-2 in nonconference softball action played in West Chicago.
The Warriors — now 11-12 after two wins in two days — jumped ahead with two runs in the third after a fluky play helped put the Spartans (20-3) and ace pitcher Emma Chapman in a 2-0 hole. After St. Francis scratched out a run in the top of the seventh to even things up at 2-2, Wheaton Academy used its running and a pair of fielding errors to score the game-winning run.
“Both pitchers were throwing well,” said Wheaton Academy coach Norbert Pivaronas, whose freshman hurler Courtney Kinnane picked up the win. “Our running game was working today. We had one runner thrown out, but our running game was going today. Our girls were really focused on the game today.”
The Warriors, who recently snapped a long losing streak, were looking for a big win over a power like St. Francis to give the team a lift with the playoffs just around the corner. With Kinnane (4-3) pitching well, they did get the big win, but they did need a little help along the way.
In the bottom of the third, Bridget Kohler was hit by a pitch and Maddie Eberling coaxed a walk out of Chapman, giving the home team two on and none out. That's when a strange play gave the Warriors a boost and also cost the Spartans a top hitter for the rest of the day.
With Meghan Gagliano squaring to bunt, Spartans catcher Fiona Summers caught the pitch and fired toward third base in an effort to catch Kohler who was running off second and headed to third. But Summers' throw struck teammate Shelby Winkleman in the back of the head as the St. Francis third baseman charged in on the play.
As the ball deflected away, Kohler kept on running and scored with Eberling moving up to third. Winkleman was injured on the play and St. Francis was without its No. 3 hitter the rest of the way. Eberling then scored on a groundout and it was 2-0.
But that was all the Warriors could get off of Chapman until they scored the game-winner in the seventh. Chapman allowed just 3 hits in the game — two of which were bunt singles — while picking up the tough-luck loss after Wheaton Academy's Julia Palmer reached on an error, was bunted to second and then came home on a dropped flyball and an overthrow at third on the same play.
“We've got to learn to win games like this so that's what was good,” said Spartans coach Ralph Remus while looking for a positive in the tough loss. “What we're playing for now is to get ready for the tournament. Even though we didn't win it's a good tune-up for us to get there.”
The Spartans had closed the gap to 2-1 after Carley Pasquale opened the fourth with a single and later scored on Ali Dittrich's infield single. The game stayed 2-1 until the top of the seventh when St. Francis loaded the bases with one on consecutive hits from Jamie Smith, Bailey Zydek and Ali Murphy.
A sac fly by Amanda Imbrogno tied the score at 2-2 and the Spartans almost went ahead on a dropped third strike, but Zydek was tagged out at the plate trying to score on the play.
When the Warriors tallied the winning run in the bottom half of that seventh frame, Kinnane and her teammates had a signature win on their resumes.
“It was our last home game so this was a nice one to get,” said Kinnane. “This feels really good especially with playoffs coming up. This will help get us focused. Beating a team like that shows we can go far in the playoffs. So who knows?”