Koesser and Co. connect, and Carmel advances
For Carmel Catholic slugging first baseman Sarah Koesser, reaching double-digit homers required double the work and effort.
The result was twice the fun.
Funny thing is, the senior had a feeling the payoff would be in Tuesday's Class 3A softball sectional semifinal against Lakes at Grayslake Central.
"I came in here and I was like, 'I haven't hit a home run in a while,' " Koesser said.
A pair of 3-run homers later, Koesser was all smiles. She helped top-seeded Carmel win a 12-8 slugfest, while hiking her season home-run total to 11, second-best on the team behind Jenny Behan's 17.
"Look at me now," Koesser said, laughing.
Look at Carmel. Jen Giesey also jacked a 3-run homer for the Corsairs, who will take 30-7 record into Saturday's 11 a.m. sectional final against the winner of today's game between No. 2 Antioch and No. 3 Wauconda.
No. 4 Lakes (23-13) cracked 6 doubles, including two by Ashley Horner, but no homers. Rachel Becker and Horner (2-for-3) both doubled off the top of the fence in the first inning, and Jen Reed smacked a double off the top of the fence in the sixth.
"We had a lot in store for (Carmel)," Lakes coach Bill Hamill said. "The difference is, they had three that went out, and we had three that hit the top of the fence for doubles."
After Horner's RBI double and starting pitcher Ally Perdue's 2-run single off Carmel ace Claire Petrus staked Lakes to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first, Carmel put together a two-out rally in the bottom of the inning. Behan (2-for-3) lined a double, Amanda Elert (2-for-5) singled and Koesser hit a towering flyball over the fence in left field.
Hello, double-digit home runs.
"I feel like I've put in a lot of work," Koesser said after going 3-for-4. "(Monday) I stayed after practice (to hit) and then I went to a (hitting) lesson. I came in here and was like, 'It's go time.' "
In its regional final at North Park University, Carmel spotted St. Viator a 4-0 lead in the top of the first, only to score six times in the bottom of the frame en route to a 25-12 win.
Thus, the Corsairs weren't about to get rattled after Lakes jumped on them in the first. The Eagles sent nine batters to the plate and left the bases loaded.
"It was early in the game, so we weren't going to get too down," Carmel coach Jason Raymond said. "The girls have been doing a great job all year of responding to deficits. We just have to play our game, have great at-bats and swing inside the strike zone, and we'll be able to put up runs."
Giesey's homer, with Karina Falkstrom (2-for-3) and Emma Bartz (1-for-3) aboard, snapped a 3-3 tie in the second inning. The sophomore lined Perdue's pitch down the left-field line.
"You got to tip your cap (to Giesey)," Hamill said. "It was a fastball low and inside, and she took it out."
Bartz's RBI double and a 2-run single by Giesey (3-for-5) hiked Carmel's lead to 9-3 in the third. The Corsairs looked on the verge of blowing the game open in the fourth, as they loaded the bases with none out, but Perdue retired the next three batters.
The Eagles seemed to feed off the momentum, as they answered with 4 runs in the fifth. Perdue (2-for-3) had a run-scoring single, Karlie Rotunno doubled in two more and Georgia Ohren's RBI groundout pulled Lakes within 9-7.
But in the Carme fifth, Koesser homered to left-center with two on again.
"It's nice to see her get hot at the right time," Raymond, whose Corsairs have hit 60 home runs, said of his No.-5 hitter.
Lakes still wasn't going down quietly. Reed's sixth-inning double off the fence knocked in one run, but had the ball gone over, Lakes would have trailed just 12-10. Instead, Petrus got the next batter to strand runners on second and third.
The Eagles went down in order in the seventh.
"It's a hard way to go out,"Hamill said. "I think this team had a lot more left in them. But today wasn't our day."