Waubonsie Valley edges West Aurora, ties for Valley lead

West Aurora ace Hannah Beatus handcuffed Waubonsie Valley nearly all day Thursday in a showdown for the Upstate Eight Conference Valley Division championship.

The Warriors, though, never quit battling. After Beatus retired 15 straight hitters through the middle innings, Waubonsie Valley finally got to her in the ninth.

Michele Calabrese, Shannon Hohman and Layne Thresh all singled to start the inning - matching the total hits Waubonsie Valley had in the first 8 innings - and each ended up scoring to give the Warriors a 4-1 win.

It's the second time the teams have gone extra innings to determine a winner. West Aurora won the first meeting 2-0 in 10 innings again behind the lights-out pitching of the sophomore Beatus.

"She had our number on a lot of our girls today," Waubonsie Valley coach Valerie Wood said. "I think we got super pumped after the bottom of the eighth. One thing after another and they just fed off each other. We got a couple calls our way and it kind of went our way today. They have overcome a lot this season and are peaking at the right time."

Waubonsie Valley (25-8, 17-4) and West Aurora (25-8, 17-4) will end up sharing the conference championship if both teams win their final games. The Warriors already lead South Elgin 10-0 in a suspended game that will be completed Saturday while the Blackhawks play at Metea Valley on Friday.

West Aurora is trying to win its first conference championship since 2000 while this would be the fourth straight for the Warriors.

"It's disappointing," West Aurora coach Randy Hayslett said. "It's softball, you see a lot of low-scoring games and it's whoever executes, whoever comes through with those hits ends up winning. They came up with the hit today. I'm glad we are playing games that are more meaningful this time of year. This is a great tuneup for regionals."

Beatus finished with a career-high 17 strikeouts. She struck out the side in the second, fifth and seventh innings. She didn't allow a baserunner from the fourth through the seventh.

"My rise ball was really on today, that was fooling them a lot," Beatus said. "We were hitting our corners pretty good. We have to learn from this and let it fire us up and then come out really hard in regionals."

Waubonsie Valley countered with an ace of its own in Jordan Kurth. She struck out 10, walked 2 and gave up 6 hits and no earned runs while improving to 12-2.

"We knew coming in it was going to be a really good game," Kurth said. "You just have to keep your cool. If you make any mistakes you have to let it go. Otherwise it can spiral out of control and that's not what we want."

The Warriors took a 1-0 lead in the first when Veronica Zahn led off with a walk - the only one Beatus allowed - stole second and scored on a single to center by Calabrese.

West Aurora tied the game at 1-1 in the fifth. Taylor Podschweit singled, moved to second on a Beatus bunt and scored when the Warriors dropped a deep fly ball.

But the Blackhawks squandered several other scoring chances as Kurth continually pitched out of trouble. West Aurora stranded 9 runners including runners in scoring position in 3 of the first 4 innings.

"In these big games like that we have to learn clutch hits are going to be the most important part of the game," Beatus said. "If we would have just come through with a couple hits we would have had that game."

The Warriors took momentum into the ninth inning after umpires changed a call on a sinking liner by Carley Frauenhoff. Originally called a single, after a conference the umpires ruled a catch for right fielder Sydney Tobolski. Kurth then stranded another runner in scoring position with a strikeout to end the eighth.

After the three straight singles to load the bases in the ninth, Sabrina Calabrese hit a grounder to second. The Blackhawks threw home but Michele Calabrese slid in just before the throw got there for a 2-1 lead.

Waubonsie Valley made it 3-1 on a catcher's interference call, then 4-1 on an infield single by Audria Wagenknecht.

"We came into this really pumped up trying to get revenge," Kurth said. "It was a really good game."

After splitting two extra-inning games, the teams could break their tie at the Downers Grove South sectional. Both teams would have to win a regional to meet in the sectional semifinals.

"I hope to see them again," Hayslett said. "We would love the chance to see who could take it two out of three times.

"We have to take advantage of opportunities earlier. We only came through once. She (Kurth) kept us off balance and it took us a time or two through the order to adjust."