Podschweit leads West Aurora past Oswego East
If West Aurora needed a wake-up call in the first game of regional play, the Blackhawks got it the day before from Batavia.
The 14th-seeded Bulldogs upset No. 3 Waubonsie Valley on Wednesday, and the last thing the second-seeded Blackhawks wanted to do was let No. 18 Oswego East become the next Cinderella story.
Senior shortstop Taylor Podschweit did her part to make sure that didn't happen, going 3-for-3 and reaching base four straight times from her leadoff spot in West Aurora's 6-1 victory.
The Blackhawks (27-8) will play No. 9 Naperville North (19-14) at 11 a.m. Saturday looking for their first regional title since 2007.
"Obviously that was a big upset last night," said Podschweit, a University of Indianapolis recruit. "We were excited to see another good team get knocked off. That makes our job easier going forward. We were a little nervous in the beginning of this game. We didn't string a lot of hits together."
Oswego East (11-19) put a scare into the Blackhawks, staying within 1-0 through 4 innings.
The Wolves had their chances against West Aurora ace Hannah Beatus but left 8 runners on base.
"We just didn't bring the runs in when we had the opportunity to do so," Oswego East coach Laura Nussle said. "That has been our story all year not getting those runs in. With a pitcher like they have I think we did a nice job putting the bat on the ball."
Beatus improved to 17-5. Her 8 strikeouts pushed the sophomore's total to 187.
She made her best pitches at key junctures, striking out two straight in the fifth after the Wolves opened the inning with a double. She stranded 2 runners in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings.
"That (Waubonsie Valley loss) really shocked us," West Aurora coach Randy Hayslett said. "I know Batavia can swing the bats. You never know what happens in regional softball. It (another upset) could have happened today but Hannah pitched out of a couple early jams with 1 out."
The Blackhawks took a 1-0 lead in the second against Wolves starter Emily Schultz. Kim Shliff led off with a single, moved to second on Kallie Rundle's bunt and scored on a 2-out single to center by Corey McCreedy.
"Corey is a great line-drive hitter. She is our most improved," Hayslett said. "We struggled early. We could have had some better baserunning. I was worried we only put one up, we should have had three or four."
West Aurora broke the game open with a 3-run fifth. Podschweit started the inning with a single, took second when Beatus walked and scored when the Wolves second baseman couldn't come up with a hard shot by Cara Jimenez.
Kendall Podschweit then doubled the lead to 4-0 with a 2-run two-bagger to the left-field gap.
The Blackhawks scored their final two runs in the sixth. Taylor Podschweit again started the rally with a triple. Beatus drove her in with a double, and Carly Frauenhoff plated the sixth run with a line single to left.
"She (Schultz) kept going outside on all of us so we crowded the plate and took the ball to right field," Taylor Podschweit said.