St. Edward 4, Westmont 3
The magic carpet ride the St. Edward softball team is on this postseason picked up some more steam on Thursday.
Despite the fact the Green Wave only had 3 hits, they parlayed 5 Westmont errors into 4 runs and then used a stellar 2 innings of relief pitching from senior Erin McGraw to down the Sentinels 4-3 in the semifinals of the Class 2A Timothy Christian sectional.
St. Edward (17-11), winners of 7 straight, will play for a softball sectional championship for the first time in program history Saturday when it takes on host Timothy Christian (14-13) at 11 a.m. in Elmhurst. The winner will meet Morrison or Genoa-Kingston in the Benedictine University supersectional on Memorial Day.
Quite a turnaround from a 6-win season a year ago that was filled with turmoil.
"We've come a long way," said senior third baseman Megan Pozezinsk, whose outstanding hook slide into home tied the game at 2-2 in the fourth.
"It's such a great feeling. I'm speechless right now. It's the greatest feeling in the world."
Westmont (8-19) struck first, scoring 2 runs off St. Edward freshman Sarah Field (8-5) in the top of the fourth on Raquel Pace's 2-run single.
The Green Wave bounced back in the bottom of the inning and tied the game, even after having a runner thrown out at the plate. Two Westmont errors and McGraw's RBI grounder plated Kristi Knott and Pozezinski with the tying runs.
Westmont came back to take a 3-2 lead in the fifth when Morgan Wilkinson's grounder eluded a diving Kelly Knott at short and scored Ashley Wilkinson with the go-ahead run.
But the Wave got the go-ahead and eventual winning runs in the bottom of the fifth with two outs. Kelly Knott reached on an error just before Stephanie Werner blooped a single to right, her second hit of the day. The Westmont right fielder then booted the ball, allowing Knott to score the tying run, and then threw wildly and out of play, allowing Werner the extra base home with what ended up being the winning run.
McGraw then entered the circle for the Wave and promptly set down all 6 batters she faced to preserve the win.
"I love situations like that," said McGraw. "I knew if they needed me I was there to help Sarah out and it just so happened she needed my help and I was there to give it to her."
Field did a commendable job as well, allowing 6 hits in her 5 innings.
"We have two great pitchers," said first-year St. Edward coach Mike Rolando. "We needed to get Sarah some work because she hasn't pitched the last couple of games and if we're going to accomplish our goals we're going to need both of them."
The next goal for the Wave is to win the program's first sectional title and then play in the Elite Eight supersectional round on Memorial Day.
"It's a totally different program," McGraw said of the Wave's turnaround this season. "The way it's run and everything. We just have so much heart this year."
Which is exactly what Rolando, the Wave football coach who has never coached high school softball before this year, saw on Thursday when his team came from behind twice to advance.
"They don't want to be done," he said. "They felt the end of their season on the doorstep and they dug deep and got it done.
"As coaches we walked into a great situation and we've got such a great group of seniors here. The girls are the team. Their heat, their soul and their determination just took over today. They want to go Downstate and they want some more hardware, so we're going after it Saturday."