Burlington Central 2, Marengo 1
It might not have been divine intervention but Burlington Central's No. 1 ranked softball team did get a lift from a Priest on Rocket Hill Wednesday.
Junior Brittany Priest drove in the tying run in the fifth inning then drilled a single to left field with one out in the bottom of the seventh to score Abby Morrow with the winning run and lead the Rockets to a thrilling 2-1 win over Marengo in front of a large crowd on both sides of the field and their fourth straight Big Northern East outright championship.
"Early on she was struggling at the plate and we moved her down in the order to take some of the pressure off her and give her some confidence," said BC coach Scot Sutherland of his left-handed first baseman. "She's come up with some big hits for us since we moved her."
Just a few weeks ago, Priest's batting average was hovering around .260. After Wednesday's 2-for-3 performance, she is now hitting above .360.
"I've just been working a lot harder," Priest said. "I've been going out in the backyard and hitting whiffle balls at night and I've been concentrating more, not letting anything get into my head and I've been more relaxed at the plate.
"Moving me down in the order made me realize I had to step my game up."
Priest's heroics ended a pitcher's duel that saw all four pitcher in the game -- BC's Erica Maisto and Mackenzie Scott, and Marengo's Sarah Steinmann and Danielle Simons -- pitch superbly. Maisto went the first 6-plus innings for the Rockets with Scott coming in with a runner at first and no outs in the top of the seventh to gain her 12th win of the season.
"Both pitching staffs did a great job today," Sutherland said. "This was a good ballgame."
Marengo (20-10, 8-2) broke a scoreless duel in the top of the fifth when Simons drew a leadoff walk from Maisto, who allowed just 3 hits. After courtesy runner Jessie Grude was sacrificed to second and took third on a groundout to Priest at first, No. 9 hitter Kelly Dettman delivered an RBI single to left-center.
The Rockets came back in the bottom of the inning and used a leadoff walk of their own to spark the game-tying rally. Steinmann put Morrow on base on 4 pitches and Priest delivered a double down the left-field line to tie the game. Marengo brought Simons into pitch and after a walk to Jordan Maisto and a groundout to third by Kayla Oranger moved the runners to second and third, Ashley Scheffler hit a screamer back to the circle that Simons was able to field. She threw to first for the second out and Marengo then turned the double play by throwing Priest out at home on a close play.
After Scott got the Rockets (25-1, 10-0) out of the seventh-inning jam, BC won it the bottom of the inning. With one out, Marengo's infield made an error on Morrow's grounder. Then, after she stole second and went to third on a wild pitch, Priest came up with the game-winner on a 3-2 pitch after she fouled off four straight.
"Offensively we're struggling a little the last couple games," Sutherland said. "Hopefully we'll snap out of it. But we got the timely hit today and in a game like this that's what it's all about."
After playing a nonconference game at Sandwich today the Rockets, who have won 17 straight, will take on Plainfield South and Lemont Friday afternoon at the Stone City Jamboree in Minooka.