Harris, Oak Park field a winning effort at Maine West
The Maine West grounds crew went to work at 6:30 a. m. to have its softball field in tip-top shape for Saturday's Class 4A regional championship between the No. 8 seeded Warriors and No. 2 Oak Park-River Forest.
Once the game started, Huskies sophomore Chardonnay Harris went to work on the pitcher's mound and was also in tip-top shape.
Instead of the rakes ands mini-tractors the ground crews used, Harris employed her left arm to fire a 1-hitter and lead the Huskies to an 11-0 victory five-inning victory under gloomy and rainy skies.
The Auburn recruit improved to 16-2 as Oak Park River Forest (29-3) advanced to Tuesday's sectional semifinal at Niles West High School.
Harris struck out eight and walked none. She allowed only two balls hit past the infield (fly outs to right) and the only hit was a bunt single by junior catcher Nicole Byerly with one out in the bottom of the third inning.
"We had a great season and everyone did their best," Byerly said. "We definitely had to learn a lot of new stuff with our new coach (Mike McGovern) but we became better teammates for it. It was a good experience and helped us connect as a team. We bonded together real well and got to know each other better."
The Huskies gave Harris the only run she would need in the first inning when cleanup hitter Maeve Nelson's two-out double drove home leadoff batter Sam Linde, who had bunted.
"I was hitting my spots and mixing up my pitches," said Harris, who defeated top-seeded York 10-0 for the West Suburban Silver championship at the end of the regular season.
Oak Park added 3 runs in the second with 2 more doubles and then received a 3-run home by No. 8 hitter and junior Emily Richardson (5 homers for the season), a Valparaiso recruit, for an 8-0 lead in the bottom of the third.
"That homer kind of broke the game open for us," said Oak Park coach Mel Kolbusz who led the Huskies to the 2005 state title and seven straight trips to the state finals from 2002 to 2007. "Maine West is a scrappy team. I knew that from watching them on Friday (5-4 semifinal win over Leyden). I saw in that game that they could compete so we wanted it make sure we got on the board first."
The Warriors finished the season at 15-15.
"They're (Oak Park) one of the top five teams in the state,"McGovern said of the Huskies. "The conditions were a little difficult but the same for both teams. They're (Oak Park) a good club. They have good pitching and some serious hitting."
The Huskies finished with 9 hits and also took advantage of 6 walks.
"We had three basic goals to start the season," McGovern said. "One was to learn as much about the game as we could. No. 2 was to be as physically prepared as we could be. And third, to play with a lot of heart. And we achieved all of those."