Glenbard West 11, Wheaton North 8

It's safe to say Ericka Lew is well again. Glenbard West's bats, well, as healthy as ever.

Lew belted 2 home runs in her second game back from the flu, and the Hilltoppers outlasted Wheaton North in a wild 11-8 win on Wednesday at the Class 4A Willowbrook regional in Villa Park.

"My dream was to hit one over the fence," said Lew, the No. 7 hitter who was homer-less until Wednesday. "Hitting two, that's a miracle."

Glenbard West (21-6), who will play Elk Grove in Saturday's regional final, pounded out 14 hits to Wheaton North's 13. Both teams went through three pitchers. The Hilltoppers averaged nearly 7 runs per game during the season.

"Oh my gosh, we hit the ball, didn't we," Glenbard West coach Mary McGrane said. "That had to have been a fun game to watch."

Lew's first homer, a 3-run high drive over the fence in left, gave Glenbard West a 6-2 lead in the third.

Wheaton North came back to tie it the next half-inning, batting around in a 4-run fourth. Adrianne Sieben doubled in 2 runs and scored the tying run on a single by Ashley Burau.

The Falcons took a 7-6 lead in the fifth, as Alex Stankus singled, advanced on an error and came home on a hard-hit grounder in the infield.

But the first six batters of the bottom of the fifth reached for Glenbard West, Melissa Rauch doubling in Kathryn Lux and Melissa Noland with the tying and go-ahead runs. Two batters later Lew hit a screaming line drive that cleared the fence in center to make it 10-7.

"It was really intense. They scored, then we would score," Lew said. "We always get up when we're down. This team doesn't quit."

"It's nice to have her back in the lineup," McGrane said. "We dropped her down in the lineup (to seventh) because we knew she'd see some better pitches."

Wheaton North (13-15) pulled to within 11-8 with a run in the seventh but came up short with the tying run at the plate.

Sieben had 2 doubles and reached base four times, and Sarah Leahy went 4-for-5 and scored 2 runs for the Falcons, who left 12 runners on base and had two more thrown out at the plate.

"The girls didn't lay down. We gave them a good fight," Wheaton North coach Karen Calabrese said. "Glenbard West is a good hitting team. We just couldn't hold them down."

Rauch, the winner in relief, went 3-for-4 with 3 RBI. Lux, Jayme Hefler and Kristy Borneman all had 2 hits.

"It's a good character win for us," McGrane said. "We kept battling."