Softball: Beecher quashes ICCP hopes again

SENECA - With one swing of the bat from Beecher junior Addrianna Picicco, IC Catholic Prep discovered the hard way some things had not changed much in the last year.

Picicco clouted a 3-run home run to dead center in the top of the second of the teams' Class 2A softball supersectional on Memorial Day.

Beecher defeated the Knights last year in the Rosemont supersectional en route to the state championship, and the Picicco blast proved to be a bitter rerun for the Knights in their 8-0 loss.

Beecher (31-2) will meet Williamsville in the Final Four on Friday in East Peoria.

ICCP, which managed only 2 hits on the day against the Bobcats' ace, Kayla Hon, had its season come to a close at 26-6.

"It impacted the game a lot," ICCP sophomore Emma Lytton, who had the Knights' first hit with one out in the bottom of the fifth, said of the Picicco home run. "I wish we could have gone back to some of those at-bats."

Picicco had impeccable timing with the game-changing home run because the wind was relatively calm at the time. But the wind velocity only increased - blowing in from center field - for the remainder of the game.

"I thought (the home run) was just going to hit the warning track," said Picicco, who later doubled as part of the Bobcats' back-to-back 2-run innings beginning in the sixth. "I just came out trying to get basehits. I think we're all really pumped to win (state) again."

Hon, who improved to 23-1 on the season, consistently baffled the Knights' batters with a combination of 7 strikeouts and a repeated assortment of soft liners and routine flyballs.

"The wind picked up after (the Picicco home run)," ICCP coach Frank Reaber said. "It changed everything. We were hitting everything in the air. We couldn't get the ball on the ground."

Josie Lytton blasted a home run for the Knights' in their 10-4 supersectional loss last year, but Hon and her teammates effectively pitched around the senior No. 3 hitter.

"I guess it was just an off-day," said Josie Lytton, who will continue playing at Aurora University. "We've all been hitting the ball pretty well the whole season. (Hon) pitched a (heck) of a game, so I don't want to take anything away from her."

Dani Murillo was a case in point for the Knights in the bottom of the sixth inning.

"We still believed in each other (despite trailing 4-0)," Josie Lytton said. "When we got to the fifth inning, that's when I think it all went downhill."

ICCP starter Becca Cash fell to 13-2 on the season with the loss.