Frank, Lake Park shut down Glenbard East
Emily Frank is not Lake Park's No. 1 pitcher, but she pitched like it on Monday.
Frank, a junior right-hander, fired a 5-hitter and struck out a personal-high 11 to lead the Lancers to an 8-1 victory over Glenbard East at the Rosemont Dome.
"This was one of my better performances," Frank said. "Today I was just thinking about throwing hard, throwing strikes and letting them put the ball in play."
The Rams (1-1) put only 16 balls in play. Aside from the 5 hits, 4 of which were singles, no balls left the infield.
"Our No. 1 is Natalie Grubczak, who was (DuPage Valley Conference) Player of the Year last year," Lake Park coach James Chellson said. "With Emily being our No. 2 pitcher, we're looking for her to throw strikes and limit the walks."
Frank did just that, allowing just one walk. She issued that with one out in the seventh to Sam Dooley, who stole second and scored when Danielle Huber broke up the shutout bid with a two-out single down the right-field line.
Chellson was happy with Frank's strikeout total but most proud of the lack of walks.
"That's exactly what we're looking for," Chellson said. "We were telling her to try to limit the free ones and she did."
As far as control goes, Glenbard East junior starter Tori Tyler was even better, not allowing any walks. But she gave up 10 hits and was done in by the Rams' leaky defense, which committed 6 errors.
Lake Park (4-2) took full advantage, scoring 7 unearned runs.
"We win that game on earned runs, but unfortunately errors is part of it," Glenbard East coach Dawn Chantos said. "Plain and simple, we have to cut down on the errors."
Errors weren't a problem until the bottom of the third, when Lake Park's Ari Sanchez laid down a great bunt and went all the way to third base when the ball was fired into right field. Rodriguez then grounded out to second to drive home Sanchez, who went 3-for-4 with 2 runs, 1 RBI and 2 stolen bases out of the leadoff spot.
"She's a new one coming up," Chellson said. "She's got tremendous speed, which is going to be great for us.
"That's something that Lake Park doesn't traditionally have. We've got mashers, but we don't really have speed."
The Lancers, who won a tournament in Clarksville, Tenn., over the weekend, got plenty of opportunities to showcase the speed they do have in the fourth and fifth innings.
Lake Park pushed across 4 runs on 4 hits in the fourth, aided by 4 Glenbard East errors, starting when Alyssa Sturino reached on a dropped third strike. Kayla Pisauro circled the bases on a single and three-base error, allowing 2 runs to score, and Michala Belter did the same thing in the fifth to boost the lead to 7-0.
Kate Todda had 2 hits to pace the Rams, who were without starters Elisa Versetto and Joselyn Molinaro.
"We're a very young team," Chantos said. "Lake Park is a strong, solid club and for us to be 0-0 with them for the first three innings, (there were) a lot of positive things today."