Thereon, South Elgin get well against Bartlett
South Elgin senior Cary Thereon didn't know until 3:30 Thursday afternoon if she'd be cleared to pitch against Bartlett or not.
The way Thereon ended up pitching against the Hawks, you'd have a hard time believing she had been hurt.
Thereon scattered 7 hits, struck out three and didn't walk anyone and her teammates played error-free softball behind her as the Storm beat Bartlett 3-0 in an Upstate Eight Conference game at South Elgin. The win is the first in program history for the Storm over the Hawks.
"I knew they are very good team," Thereon said of the Hawks. "Every single person on that team can hit. You have to play your best game against Bartlett."
South Elgin (4-5, 1-0) did play its best game of the season Thursday and much of that had to do with finally playing a game with what coach Jason Schaal figures on being his regular starting lineup.
"It's an excellent start to the conference for us," Schaal said. "Because of injuries and illnesses it's actually the first time we've had our quote, starting lineup, together, and we didn't find out until 3:30 that Cary could pitch. We really played well today. This is a good confidence builder and hopefully we can propel this into something."
Bartlett got a good effort in the circle from junior Callie Dennison, but for the second day in a row the Hawks couldn't find any run-scoring hits. They had at least one baserunner in 5 of the 7 innings, but only got a runner as far as third once.
"(Thereon) did a good job of keeping us off balance," said Bartlett coach Jim Wolfsmith, whose team was shut out by Neuqua Valley senior Colleen Hohman on Wednesday. "Hohman and Thereon are two different type pitchers and today we just couldn't get the key hit when we needed it and South Elgin did. I thought Callie pitched a good game and I also thought there were some plays we could have made and didn't."
Thereon showed no effects of her injury.
"My fastball was good today," she said. "I felt stronger than I have. This was one of our team goals, to beat Bartlett. This is a big win for us."
The Storm scored all its runs in the third inning. Rae Bosteder led off with a solid single to center and with one out, Caitlin Stredde took a 1-2 pitch to right field for a single. Then on an 0-2 pitch senior Kim Pierce, Dennison's travel ball teammate on the Bartlett Silver Hawks, dumped a double just inside the right field foul line to give the Storm a 2-0 lead.
"You have to focus more," said Pierce when asked how she approached at-bats against someone she knows so well. "The fun of it is to get your friends out and it's fun facing your friends. This was a fun game."
Pierce scored the third run of the inning when Courtney Bosteder took an 0-2 pitch to right field for a single.
The rest was left to Thereon, who bent but never broke.
Bartlett had a golden chance for a big inning in the sixth when Rachel Anello (2-for-3) led off with a double to the fence in left-center. But Thereon got three straight groundouts to keep Bartlett's scoring futility in tact.
"We'll get (injured) Nicole (Beck) back soon hopefully and that's a big bat that's been out of our lineup," said Wolfsmith, whose 3-2, 0-2 team plays at Lake Park at 10 a.m. today. "Right now we're pressing a little. Kids like E-Kay (Elizabeth Kay) and Callie are pressing. When you're a team leader like they both are you want to hit the 3-run homer every time up. They're both trying to do too much right now."
Kaitlyn Stonecipher added 2 hits for the Storm, who travel to St. Charles North for a 4:30 p.m. UEC game today before taking on Lake Park Monday and Neuqua Valley Tuesday.