Trevs oust Maine West
It had been a special season for Maine West's softball team.
The Warriors and starting pitcher Emily Ott continued their magical run in the postseason with three solid victories to earn a spot in the Glenbrook South Class 4A sectional title game.
Ott had three shutouts for No. 2 seed Maine West in its three playoff victories.
But No. 4 seed New Trier solved Ott and the Warriors by scoring an unearned run in the first inning then adding another unearned run in the fifth inning, propelling the Trevians to a 2-0 sectional title victory in Glenview.
New Trier (27-9) advances to Monday's Class 4A Loyola supersectional and will face Oak Park-River Forest at 5:30 p.m.
"The girls had a great run," said Maine West coach Mike Murin, whose team advanced to its first sectional title game since 2003. "They played well all season and it's never easy to lose."
New Trier jumped on Maine West early with leadoff batter Kimber Sable reaching on a walk. Sable then stole second and reached third on a wild pitch. The sophomore came home after Ott struck out the second batter -- when the return throw went over Ott's mitt and under the second baseman's glove, giving the Trevians a 1-0 lead without a hit.
"Something like that counts as much as a home run," said New Trier coach John Caldwell, whose team has won 16 of its last 17 games. "That gave us a lot of confidence. We knew we were in better position."
Ott (19-5), who had 13 shutouts this season, settled down, allowing only 3 hits with 10 strikeouts for the remainder of the game.
"We knew this was going to be a tough game," said Ott, "and when they got the first run it made us work even harder."
New Trier sophomore pitcher Kelsey Lee (20-6) kept the Warriors off balance for much of the morning. She allowed only 3 hits and recorded 9 strikeouts in 7 innings.
"As a pitcher there is nothing better than getting the early lead," said Lee. "It just changes everything and I was much more relaxed."
Maine West (26-8) threatened in the second inning as right fielder Nicole Eisenberg reached on a leadoff single and Caryn McGinley followed with a walk. Both runners advanced a base on a sacrifice.
But with runners on third and second and only one out, Lee retired the next two batters, on a strikeout and pop out.
"I definitely thought we could come out and get some runs," said Eisenberg, "but we didn't do what we needed to do to get the runs across."
Maine West went 10-0 in the Central Suburban League North for the first time, won 19 straight games (the longest streak in school history), and also set a school record with 16 shutouts.
"I'm really proud of my team this year," said Ott. "It was an amazing season. We broke a lot of records. I knew we could make it this far -- it was a great year."