advertisement

Softball: Powerful display lifts St. Viator past Antioch

When St. Viator third baseman Jenna Breslin speared Carlie Gaylord's liner for the final out of the Lions' sectional semifinal upset of host Antioch, all the hitter could do was look to the skies, gently remove her helmet and take a deep sigh.

Gaylord then got in the handshake line.

Her Uncle Scott had nearly done it again.

"Whenever I'm up to bat and I need a hit, I ask him for help, and I get it," Gaylord said of her uncle Scott Schumacher, a former Kenosha firefighter who lost his battle with skin cancer a couple of years ago. Antioch's senior catcher writes the initials "S.S." on the back of her helmet.

"He's helped me a lot," said Gaylord, tears welling in her eyes.

Gaylord went 3-for-4 with a 2-run homer that got Antioch within a couple of runs in the sixth inning, but St. Viator blew the game open in the seventh and beat the top-seeded Sequoits 10-4. Antioch had two runners on base in the bottom of the seventh when Breslin grabbed Gaylord's head-high screamer.

Haley Robinson, Cece Kaiser and winning pitcher Grace Kaiser all homered for No. 4 St. Viator (18-14), which earned a berth in Saturday's 11 a.m. sectional final at Antioch's McMillen Field against the winner of Wednesday's game between No. 2 Grayslake Central (25-11) and No. 6 Richmond-Burton (15-10).

"It was a fun game," St. Viator coach John Scotillo said. "These girls have been hitting the ball hard all year. When we can get that great pitching like we had to today and solid defense, we win more games than we lose."

Antioch, which finished 25-9, committed 8 errors.

"You can't have a bad game in the playoffs. It's as simple as that," Antioch coach Anthony Rocco said.

"We beat ourselves, for sure," Gaylord said. "We're all down on ourselves, but it is what it is. (St. Viator) played a good game. We needed to come out and hit the ball better."

Robinson set the tone offensively for St. Viator, homering over the 200-foot sign in center field with one out and none on in the first off Sequoits pitcher Stephanie Bonaguidi. The Lions protected the lead the entire way.

"That really helped," Grace Kaiser said. "That got our momentum going, and we all just got more comfortable as the game went on."

Cece Kaiser hit a 2-run homer to deep center field in the fourth. When Grace Kaiser belted a 3-run shot to left to break the game open in the seventh, it marked the first time the two sisters had homered in the same game.

"It was really exciting," Grace Kaiser said.

"They both launched them, didn't they? Man," a beaming Scotillo said.

Trailing 6-2 after a dropped popup with two out in the top of the sixth plated two runs, Antioch rallied in the bottom of the inning. Ashley Stephens walked and trotted home when Gaylord homered to right-center. Megan Lawrence (2-for-2) then singled. But Grace Kaiser proceeded to strike out the next three batters, stranding Lawrence (stolen base) at second.

The key to preventing further damage for St. Viator's ace?

"I think just staying in it, head in it, not getting too down about what happened," Grace Kaiser said. "Keep moving forward."

Robinson and Breslin each had a pair of hits for the Lions.

Antioch graduates eight seniors, seven of whom were up on varsity three seasons. Jill Foote, Bonaguidi, Hannah Cook, Annie Wagner and Stephens were all four-year varsity players. The seniors were part of four regional-championship teams.

"This is a special group. I'm going to miss them," Rocco said. "They made it easy to win four (regional) titles. I'm just glad we won the conference (Northern Lake County). We had higher aspirations, but I told the kids, 'The only team that's going to beat us is ourselves.' That's basically what it came down to."

  Antioch catcher Carlie Gaylord tags out St. Viator runner Aryana Ziakas on a play at the plate in the third inning of Class 3A sectional semifinal play Tuesday at Antioch. Gilbert R. Boucher II/gboucher@dailyherald.com
  St. Viator hitter Haley Robinson points to the outfield after hitting a home run in the first inning against Class 3A sectional semifinal host Antioch on Tuesday. Gilbert R. Boucher II/gboucher@dailyherald.com
  Antioch's Megan Lawrence, left, high-fives Abby Pyburn after Lawrence scored in the fourth inning of Class 3A sectional semifinal play against visiting St. Viator on Tuesday. Gilbert R. Boucher II/gboucher@dailyherald.com
  Antioch pitcher Stephanie Bonaguidi fields the ball and throws out St. Viator runner Cam VanValkenburg at first base during Class 3A sectional semifinal play Tuesday. Gilbert R. Boucher II/gboucher@dailyherald.com
  St. Viator catcher Adeline Swiderski reaches out to try to tag out Antioch runner Callie Tubbs in the fourth inning of Class 3A sectional semifinal play at Antioch. Gilbert R. Boucher II/gboucher@dailyherald.com
Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.