Softball: Oswego East knocks out Waubonsie Valley
That Cinderella slipper that fit so well the previous day was nowhere to be found around the Waubonsie Valley softball team on Wednesday.
One day after a solid, surprising regional victory over rival Metea Valley, the Warriors' season came to an end with a 13-1, five-inning loss to Oswego East, the Class 4A sectional's third seed. The Warriors tallied a run in the first off Wolves ace Emily Schultz (13-4) but trailed 2-1 after one and then got buried by Oswego East's 11-run second inning.
The hosts boast a roster with 10 seniors who will play college softball at different levels and improved to 23-5 on the year with the semifinal win on their home field. With the win the Wolves advance to Saturday's regional final against Batavia.
"They're really good. Probably eight of them I think (are Division I)," Warriors coach Val Wood said of the Wolves, only half-jokingly. "It feels like their entire team is D-I. I feel like we were ready to go; we were ready to play. We were just overmatched. They have a lot of great hitters."
In the top of the first, Emily Olson delivered a two-out RBI single to score Emily Pavuk and give the Warriors (6-26) a brief lead. Olson, who was the pitching star Tuesday with a 1-hit shutout of Metea Valley, came on in relief Wednesday. But by then Oswego East had already built a big lead in the second inning.
"I think our girls were excited. They were ready to go today," Oswego East coach Mark Green said. "Playing on our home field, you know they're pretty relaxed and they did their thing."
Waubonsie Valley had six hits in the five innings and only went down 1-2-3 in the third, but they just couldn't keep up with the powerful Wolves' bats.
Senior Caleigh Cramer, a basketball and softball player at the school, said she won't soon forget her teammates and the fun they had, even if the win total was not great in 2018.
"I'm going to miss seeing everybody every day. We had such a positive team this year," she said. "Even though we didn't have too many wins, we bounced back after each loss and I think we got better each time. We were outmatched today, but going into the future I can't wait to see what they do without me."
And the Warriors can always reflect on Tuesday, when everything clicked.
"I really enjoyed just being a part of the school and this team," Cramer said. "That was probably our best game of the season yesterday. We had no errors on defense and baserunners on every inning, and they had beaten us before. But we came out and we put them in their place."