Softball: It's a date with state for St. Edward

No hits and 23 strikeouts, but one run - and that's all that mattered.

Senior Allie Stratman scored on a wild pitch in the top of the 11th inning as St. Edward's softball team defeated Peotone 1-0 Monday in the Class 2A Rosemont supersectional at Bandits Stadium.

The win catapults the Green Wave (25-8) to the Class 2A Final Four at Eastside Centre in East Peoria this weekend, where they will play Dupo, a 10-4 winner over St. Joseph-Ogden Monday, at 3 p.m. on Friday in the state semifinals. It's the first trip to an IHSA state final tournament in softball for St. Edward, which lost to Morrison in the 2008 supersectional, the Wave's only other Elite Eight appearance in the four-class system.

"I feel fantastic," said Stratman moments after the Green Wave hoisted the supersectional plaque. "It's been quite a ride. I was really hoping to keep our season going because I love these girls so much."

The game was a classic pitchers duel between senior Division I signees Lindsay Zdroik of St. Edward (Valparaiso) and Allie Johnson of Peotone (Texas-El Paso).

Prior to the 11th inning, both teams had scoring chances and both teams had runners thrown out at the plate. But in the end St. Edward's defense, Zdroik's moxie and Stratman's hustle made the difference.

While Johnson (17-9) recorded 23 strikeouts and threw her second straight no-hitter, she hit Stratman with a pitch to lead off the 11th. Zdroik and Jessy Kramp followed with ground outs back to the circle, allowing Stratman to move up a base each time. Then, on her first pitch to Emily Stapay, Johnson uncorked a wild pitch that allowed Stratman to score the game's only run.

"Every time I was on base I was looking for an opportunity so I wasn't that surprised that's how it ended. I went to the outside and found a way to stick my hand in there," said Stratman who, after reaching on an error in the sixth inning, was thrown out at the plate on a squeeze attempt after a Peotone error on a Zdroik fly ball had sent Stratman to third.

Peotone's best chance to score came in the bottom of the eighth when the Blue Devils (21-12) had the game-winning run thrown out at the plate. With one out, Kali Sroka blooped a single over third base and after a strikeout and Sroka stealing second, leadoff hitter Shelby Marchionda's short fly ball to left field was dropped. But St. Edward freshman left fielder Sarah Mendosa recovered and threw a strike to Stratman at the plate, where she applied the tag on Sroka, who had hesitated coming around third, for the final out of the inning.

Zdroik (16-3), who allowed 5 hits, no walks (one hit batter) and struck out 14 to bring her season total to 236, credited her team's defense for stepping up on the big stage.

"They were really strong behind me and I'm really thankful for the defense today," she said. "I really had a feeling we'd pull this one out."

Peotone coach Zack Myers credited Zdroik and Johnson for their stellar efforts.

"She's a phenomenal pitcher and she showed that today, as did (Johnson)," he said. "It's tough. Eleven innings of no-hit ball ... it's tough. But I couldn't be prouder of my team. That was going to be a situation where something funky happened for a run to score and that's what happened."

St. Edward, which left 7 runners on base, had a golden opportunity to score in the fourth when Stratman and Zdroik walked to lead off the inning. But Johnson got a line out to first and a strikeout before hitting Rachel Lesh with a pitch to load the bases. But she then got another strikeout to end the threat.

Peotone did get a two-out single from Nicole Lewis in the bottom of the 11th but Zdroik got Kelly Bernat to ground out to second to end the game and send St. Edward to East Peoria.

"One run trumps no hits any day of the week," said first-year St. Edward coach Paul Netzel. "I inherited a great group of girls and they've done a great job. This was just a wonderful game. The girls played hard the whole game."

Added Stratman: "It's such an amazing feeling. We've had really good teams in the past but to be the ones who made it shows how much we developed throughout this season."

And Zdroik was just waiting for the surreal feeling to subside.

"I'm very excited," she said. "(Playing downstate) hasn't really sunk in yet but knowing it's going to happen is awesome."