Willowbrook bats defeat Montini
Thursday's 11-10 Willowbrook softball victory over visiting Montini was a celebration of hitting and baserunning.
"Small ball" was given the day off and was on the bench keeping the scorebook.
Each squad racked up 12 hits, and the Warriors and the Broncos slammed 3 home runs each in the eight-inning game.
Willowbrook (22-10) was down 10-4 after the first 4 innings and scored 7 runs over the last four innings to prevail. Erin Sporer's single to right in the bottom of the seventh brought up Sam Schmidt, who had led off the inning with a well-placed groundball that turned into an infield hit.
"I never have doubts about this team. They always come through and are always clutch," Sporer said.
Willowbrook coach Rachel Karos said this battle was similar to other games of previous years.
"The last couple have been high-scoring games with clean defense for the most part. We knew that's what we're going to deal with," she said. "It would have been easy to say we're down 10-4 and that's it. But we came back."
Montini (25-4) jumped on the Warriors immediately in their half of the first. No. 2 hitter Amy Bukovsky reached base on a well-placed infield hit. The next batter, Nicole Cuchran, hit a single to short center scoring Bukovsky. Then with two outs, Emily Lezcano singled to left and that set the stage for Naomi Alonzo - the first to take advantage of the wind blowing out - to deposit her blast over the right-field fence and give the Broncos a 4-0 advantage.
The Warriors wasted no time in responding, scoring 3 runs on 3 hits in their portion of the first.
Leadoff hitter Zoe Dannenberg connected on her first of two homers on the afternoon for her team's first run. Schmidt was safe on a fielder's choice as part of a double-play attempt and then with two outs, Delaney Pelsor grabbed the first pitch and sent it over the fence for a 2-run shot.
A 2-run homer in the second by Bukovsky and a 2-run homer by Alyssa Sclafani and 2-run double by Cuchran in the fourth helped the Broncos build that 10-4 lead.
Pelsor came on to pitch during the fourth inning and got the third out. And then she and the Willowbrook defense held Montini to just 2 hits over the final four innings.
"They made a pitching change and (Pelsor) did a nice job. It gave us a different look and we didn't do a good job of adjusting," said Montini coach Mike Bukovsky. "That's softball. One day you're on top and the next day you're struggling. We gave a good team today too many opportunities."
The Warriors started chipping away at the Broncos' lead with 3 runs in the fifth with a sacrifice fly by Sporer and a 2-run double by Jiana Funteas sparking the rally.
Dannenberg reached base on an error in the sixth and scored on a fielding error. Her homer in the seventh, with two outs, tied the game at 10. She brought home Jordan Marczewski, who had doubled.
Willowbrook closes the regular season Saturday at Glenbard East. The Warriors, an eighth seed at the Class 4A Rolling Meadows sectional, will take on ninth-seeded Lake Park on Wednesday in a Schaumburg regional semifinal.
Montini plays host to York on Friday and Hancock of the Chicago Public League on Saturday to close the regular season. The Broncos are the top seed of their own Class 3A sectional. They open postseason play Tuesday in an IMSA regional semifinal against the Monday winner of 17th-seeded IMSA versus 16th-seeded Chicago Noble/Pritzker.