Westmont comes out slugging, staggers Lisle

It's safe to say the Lisle softball team is glad to be done with Westmont.

Westmont broke out the bats versus the Lions for the second consecutive day, this time beating them 14-3 in six innings Tuesday in Lisle to conclude the two-game Interstate Eight Conference series.

The visitors sent out 24 hits a day after defeating Lisle 15-5 in five innings in Westmont.

"They came out hitting very well both games," Lisle coach Jen Pomatto said. "Yesterday we had 12 walks. We cut down on our walks (5) today, but they did hit the ball hard."

The Sentinels (3-6, 3-3) have now won three in a row after a slow start.

"I think they're starting to see what they can do," Westmont coach Joe Blackburn said of his players. "They just needed some confidence."

Every player in Westmont's lineup hit safely by the fourth inning.

Senior first baseman Morgan Wilkinson led the hit parade for the Sentinels. She banged out 3 run-producing doubles on the way to collecting 4 RBI.

Junior catcher Morgan Wilkinson also drove in 4 runs while tallying 3 hits, including a pair of doubles.

"It was good to keep our batting confidence up and get a lot of hits in there," Latsko said. "I think everybody's coming around and hitting a lot more.

"It was a good win against them yesterday, so I think that kept our confidence up."

Westmont took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first on Latsko's 2-run double.

Lisle (1-6, 1-4) countered with a run in the bottom of the inning on Colleen Drennan's RBI single, but Westmont came back with 2 runs in the second, 1 in the third and 1 in the fourth to move ahead 6-1.

The Sentinels blew the game wide open with 4 runs in the fifth and 4 more in the sixth.

Sophomore pitcher Chelsea Ramage earned the victory for the second day in a row to improve to 3-5.

Lisle recorded 7 hits. Freshman first baseman Stephanie Petkovsek, sophomore catcher Drennan and freshman right fielder Tori Harris tallied 2 singles apiece.

The Lions are young this year. They started only one senior and two juniors.

"I'm realistic," Pomatto said. "I know that there are going to be mistakes made. We've talked about trying not to have more than one and not have it snowball."