Softball: Little things lead to big win for St. Viator

Nicole Ardito got more than she expected with her bunt. And perhaps St. Viator has gotten more than expected in its postseason hunt for wins.

Already playing in a sectional for the first time, the No. 4 seed pulled off another surprise Friday in beating No. 2 Grayslake Central 6-2 in the Class 3A Antioch sectional final at McMillen Field. Then again, considering the Lions' recent knack for clutch hitting and shutdown pitching of Grace Kaiser, perhaps their win wasn't a shocker.

"Right now St. Viator is playing great softball," said Grayslake Central coach Jason Schaal, whose Rams finished 26-12. "It's not that we played terrible. Today we made a couple of mistakes, but that's part of the game. At the same time, we didn't put our heads down."

St. Viator's players held their high as they posed for pictures on the infield with the sectional championship plaque. The Lions (19-14) advanced to Monday's 4:30 p.m. Kaneland supersectional against Marengo (32-6) in Maple Park.

"We're unstoppable right now," Lions junior first baseman Haley Robinson said after going 3-for-4 with a double. "Our motto is, 'One more time.' One game at a time. One practice at a time. One inning at a time. One out at a time. We don't want to get ahead of ourselves."

Robinson's RBI single broke a 2-2 tie in the top of the fourth. She then stole second base with Ardito, St. Viator's No. 3 hitter, at the plate. The freshman Ardito pushed a bunt past hard-throwing pitcher Reagen Radke, and as the ball kept rolling, Robinson raced around third and scored.

"You want to get it past the pitcher and second baseman," said Ardito, who did just that.

"It was amazing placement on her part," said Robinson, who scored 3 runs. "It couldn't have been better. I saw the ball go past the pitcher, and then at that point I was looking at my third-base coach and she was screaming to go."

Kaiser made the lead hold up, aiding her own cause with a 2-run single in the sixth. The senior pitcher allowed just 1 earned run and 7 hits (6 singles) in shutting down a Grayslake Central offense that produced 11 runs in a six-inning win over Richmond-Burton on Wednesday. Kaiser struck out seven and walked two.

"She definitely buckled down against us," said Radke, who gave up 4 earned runs and struck out eight in her 7 innings. "She was a good opponent."

Grayslake Central stranded seven runners on base, including five in scoring position. Morgan Smigielski (2-for-3) singled with one out in the seventh. But Radke hit a hard grounder up the middle, shortstop Aryana Ziakas fielded the ball, stepped on second base and fired to Robinson for a game-ending double play.

"We're usually pretty good getting people in," Radke said. "It just wasn't our luck today."

St. Viator got 13 hits (12 singles) off Radke. Eight Lions contributed at least one hit. Cam VanValkenburg, Kaiser and Jenna Breslin (RBI single) were all 2-for-4.

"The team has a lot of potential," St. Viator coach John Scotillo said. "We've had spurts of greatness ... and then spurts where we can't get out of our way.

"The girls have hung in there," he added. "We believe success is based upon repeating small things daily. They're proof."

Grayslake Central, which won 85 games with Radke on its roster the last four seasons, started only two seniors: three-year ace Radke and shortstop Kaci Snyder, who went 1-for-2 with a sacrifice bunt in her final game.

"We're going to miss them," Schaal, whose Rams also got 2 hits and an RBI from Brooke Heraty, said of his seniors. "But we're going to get rolling right again. A lot of these girls are really focused on the game. I'm not going to say we're going to get back here next year, but that's the goal."