Wrap: Burlington extends streak to 20
Burlington Central's softball team found its offense here Friday at the Stone City Jamboree, and it couldn't have come back at a better time.
After being limited to just 4 runs in 3 games earlier in the week, the top-ranked Rockets broke loose for 13 runs in 2 games Friday, beating Plainfield South 6-3 in eight innings and Lemont 7-4 at the annual college coaches showcase event hosted by Ed Serdar and the Stone City Sharks.
The wins run the Rockets' record to 28-1 and their winning streak to 20. They will play a single game at Leyden today and host Woodstock on Monday before beginning Class 3A regional play at Rosary on Tuesday.
"This was a good day for us," said BC coach Scot Sutherland. "I came down here hoping to at least split and we walked away with better than I expected."
In their opener against Plainfield South (22-7), the Rockets broke out of their offensive slump in the fifth inning, breaking a scoreless tie when Kayla Oranger and red-hot Brittany Priest, who was moved up to No. 2 in the order, came up with back-to-back RBI singles to drive in Abby Morrow and Lindsay Lange, who had singled and reached on an error respectively.
The Cougars scored an unearned run off BC senior Erica Maisto in the sixth and tied the game in the seventh when Jackie Frey cranked a one-out line drive home run over the right field fence off BC junior Mackenzie Scott, who had come in to start the inning.
Playing the international tie-breaker in the top of the eighth, the Rockets broke the game open with 4 runs. With Priest at second, Brook Porto laid down a sacrifice bunt which was followed by Sam Gruner blooping a hit into center past a drawn-in infield. An infield error on Maisto's grounder scored Priest, an Ashley Scheffler single loaded the bases and Morrow delivered an RBI single to make it 4-2. Then, on Jordan Maisto's comebacker, Plainfield South pitcher Akyssa Schrader threw wildly to home and two more runs scored.
Schrader doubled home a run in the bottom of the inning but Scott struck out the side to gain the win for her team.
Maisto pitched 6 strong innings, allowing 6 hits with 3 strikeouts and 1 walk.
"I felt real good today," said Maisto who woke up sick at midnight Thursday. "I believe this shows people we can play with anybody and not just the teams in our area. These teams have solid pitching and defense, and this shows we can play competitively with the big teams."
Priest continued her hot hitting with a 3-for-3 game, while Morrow added 2 hits for the Rockets.
"Erica threw great, Mac really hit her spots in the eighth inning We made some nice defensive plays and we came out and got some hits. I was very pleased with the way we swung the bats in that game."
In the win over Lemont (19-9), the Rockets pounded out 13 hits and had a 7-1 lead until the bottom of the seventh when Lemont hit a 3-run homer to make the game close.
Oranger (3-for-4, 2 runs, 2 SBs), Priest (2-for-4, 2 runs, 3 RBI), Porto (2-for-4, 3B, 2 RBI), and Gruner (2-for-4, 2B, RBI) led the onslaught.
Scott (15-1) got her second win of the day, allowing 4 hits with 9 strikeouts and 7 walks.
Kaneland 5, Batavia 4:ŒVicki Mattieu finished with 4 RBI, including a home run in the Knights' Western Sun Conference win over the Bulldogs in Batavia.
Mallory Huml (15-3) earned the win on the mound after she allowed no walks and struck out 4 batters. Kaneland is 19-6, 10-3.
St. Charles North 6, Streamwood 1:ΠAmanda Ciran improved to 8-3 after pitching a complete game with 5 strikeouts in the North Stars' Upstate Eight Conference win over the Sabres.
Lisa Korth had 3 hits and Loren Cihlar had 2 RBI for St. Charles North (22-11, 12-8).
Naperville Central 3, Rosary 0: Despite Kylie Schalz fanning 10 batters and giving up a pair of hits, the Royals fell on the road in a nonconference game.
Schalz and Lauren Contorno also each had a hit for Rosary (16-11).
Geneva 4, Sycamore 2 (8 inn.): Kait Pennybacker and Rachel Hunter each had a pair of hits in the Western Sun Conference loss to the Spartans. The Vikings dropped to 13-13, 6-8.
Baseball
St. Charles East 15, Streamwood 10:ŒMike Hoscheit, Chris Burgess, Steve Schenck and Dan White all hit home runs in the Saints' 20-hit performance over the Sabres in Upstate Eight Conference action in Streamwood.
Hoscheit has 9 home runs this season after he finished with 2 against Streamwood. He also added 4 RBI. Schenck went 4-for-4 with 3 RBI and Zach Scott and White also tallied 3 hits apiece for the Saints (17-13, 16-8).
Batavia 5, Yorkville 0: The Bulldogs have won 6 consecutive road games, including the shutout against the Foxes in Yorkville.
Jordan Coffey improved to 6-2 after he scattered a pair of hits and struck out 10 batters. The Bulldogs finished with 13 hits -- all singles -- as Brad Brandenburg and Tim Drish each tallied 2 RBI.
Alex Beckmann, Brandenburg, Mike Sentman, Coffey and Drish each had 2 hits apiece for the Bulldogs (17-12, 12-9).
West Chicago 6, West Aurora 4: Jeff Etter, Cory Walden and Kyle McCradic each had 2 hits in the DuPage Valley Conference loss to the Wildcats. The Blackhawks drop to 16-15, 8-13.
Sycamore 3, Geneva 1: In a game that was resumed from Tuesday, the Vikings dropped another one to the Western Sun Conference champion Spartans.
Justin Doty finished with 3 hits and an RBI for the Vikings, who dropped to 18-10 overall, 11-10 in conference play.
Girls soccer
Wheaton Academy 3, York 1:ŒThe first 10 minutes of Friday night's Class AA St. Francis girls soccer regional final, York looked like it would make quick work of Wheaton Academy.
The second 10 minutes showed Wheaton Academy was far from finished. The Warriors (15-6-2) bounced back with 3 goals and held on for a 3-1 victory. They will play the winner of this afternoon's Bartlett regional final between Glenbard West and St. Charles North at Tuesday's Wheaton North sectional semifinals.
York held most of the possession for the game's first 10 minutes, culminating in a Danielle Vujovic goal that Warriors goalkeeper Emily Mulder nearly saved. The assistant referee ruled it crossed the goal line, however.
Before the Dukes (17-4-1) could finish celebrating, Sharkey turned the game around with the tying goal. She worked a give-and-go with teammate Jenn Lee, beat the lone Dukes defender in front of her off the dribble and roofed a shot into the net in the 12th minute.
"For us to respond that quickly didn't give us a whole lot of time to dwell on that (York goal)," Warriors coach Dave Underwood said. "I think it really gave us a boost and some life. I think it really shook them up a little bit, especially when we got that second one."
Two minutes later a Leah Fortune 30-yard blast short-hopped the York goalkeeper, and Sharkey pounced on the rebound for her second goal of the game, 26th of the season.
"I just followed it and tried to chip it into the goal and it worked," Sharkey said. "It was pure luck that we came out and got three."
Sharkey also figured in the game's final goal, sending Lee through for a shot that deflected off the York keeper and started rolling toward the net. Lee made sure to finish it off, and just like the stunned Dukes were behind by 2 in the 19th minute.
"That's a great team. Wheaton Academy is a good team, and they play well. There's no looking back after that," York coach Rachael Shepherd said. "… It was just seven minutes that happened to have the fate of the game in its hands."
"At halftime I didn't think it was going to end at 3-1," Underwood said. "I was kind of surprised they didn't get another one, because they're just so talented, but our defenders did just such a great job."
-- Orrin Schwarz