Softball: St. Edward wins pitcher's duel over Aurora Central
St. Edward's Lindsay Zdroik and Aurora Central Catholic's Danielle Brown were locked in a scoreless pitchers duel Monday into the sixth inning until one swing of the bat changed everything.
With a runner on second base and one out in the bottom of the sixth inning, left-handed swinging Emily Stapay took a pitch over the outside corner and drove it to the opposite field, through a stiff wind, and over the left center field fence to give St. Edward all the runs it would need in a 2-0 Metro Suburban Conference win.
"Basically I went up there just trying to make good contact," Stapay said. "I felt like I had her timed pretty well. I thought I hit it pretty good but I was a little surprised when it went that far. It was really exciting when it went over."
It was Stapay's second homer of the season. She had been struggling some at the plate lately and was recently moved down in the order from second to seventh.
"She had been pushing a little," St. Edward coach Paul Netzel said. "So we moved her down to take some pressure off and try to just get her to relax. She has been swinging the bat better the last few games but just couldn't get any thing to fall. So it was nice to see her get a good stroke. She can hit the ball hard the other way."
It was all the runs Zdroik would need as she went on to complete her second shutout of the season. The right-hander struck out 10 and walked just one while yielding 4 hits.
"I wasn't getting as much movement on my curveball," said Zdroik. "So, I went a lot more with my fastball and was able to hit my spots. I thought the whole team was really focused and ready to play today. I was really happy to see Emily get that homer. I had a feeling she was going to do it."
The Green Wave (18-7, 8-2) avenged a 10-3 loss to ACC earlier in the season and secured second place in the Metro West Division. Zdroik did not pitch in the first meeting.
"That's the way she pitches all the time," Netzel said. "She is just so consistent. When you have talent like that on your team it makes coaching pretty easy.'
The Chargers' (12-11, 4-4) best scoring opportunity came in the 4th inning when they left runners stranded at second and third. They only had one other runner in scoring position the whole game.
"You never want to lose, but you don't mind so much losing that way," ACC coach Tom Babyar said. "The pitchers both threw great games and it came down to one that one pitch and their girl had a nice hit."