Easy does it for Zupec, Warren
You couldn't blame pitcher Sam Berrios for being nervous, as she claims she was, on her seemingly routine game-ending lob to first base, because Warren never beats Lake Zurich in softball.
Not before this year, anyway.
You couldn't blame Warren's Emma Zupec if she were skittish as she stepped to the plate with two outs in the seventh of a tie game, because the pressure to get a hit was most definitely on.
She was calm, however.
Zupec rifled the first pitch she saw from Lake Zurich sophomore ace Megan Mattera into the right-center field gap for an RBI double, and visiting Warren survived a scare in the bottom of the seventh to win 2-1 Wednesday.
"I wasn't nervous at all," Zupec said of her key at-bat. "I just went up and swung the bat. I feel that's the easiest way to go."
According to coach Carri McGahan, who's a 2001 Warren graduate, the Blue Devils had never beaten Lake Zurich before pulling out a 1-0 thriller over the Bears last week.
The Blue Devils' win Wednesday hiked their record to 4-6 overall and 2-0 in the North Suburban Lake Division.
"That was one of our big goals this year - to beat (Lake Zurich)," Zupec, Warren's junior catcher and a captain, said of the two-time defending NSC champs.
"So we are really, really, really proud of ourselves."
Lake Zurich (9-3, 1-2) lost despite scoring the tying run in the fifth, having the tying and go-ahead runs on base in the seventh and outhitting Warren 8-5.
"I think a lot of games have to do with intensity," Bears coach Becky Lewandowski said.
"(Warren) came out hard. They came out swinging and putting the ball in gaps. Props to them."
Sarah Clauser (2-for-3) led off the Warren seventh with a single, was bunted to second by Kayla Hurd and one out later scored on Zupec's double.
The Indiana Tech-bound Berrios retired Lake Zurich's first two batters in the bottom of the seventh, but then walked Kyra Boyer and allowed a single to Amanda Orchard.
That brought to the plate leadoff-hitter Paige Goldberg, who had slapped an RBI single in the fifth to pull Lake Zurich even. Goldberg hit a groundball back to Berrios, who shorthopped a toss to first baseman Hurd, who deftly scooped the ball and squeezed it.
"You just got to spice it up a bit, you know," Berrios, who also beat Lake Zurich last week, said with a laugh. "My hands were just shaking really bad. But I got defense behind me."
"I was nervous," Zupec said of watching Berrios' one-hop throw to first. "But I really have faith in Kayla (Hurd)."
Lake Zurich got 2 hits apiece from Goldberg, Alex Block (double) and Boyer. The Bears stranded six runners, though.
"We did pretty good," the sophomore Goldberg said. "This time we just didn't string our hits together like we normally do. We just needed to get more in a row."
Warren took a 1-0 lead in the first when Lindsay Horwitz doubled with one out, stopped at third on Clauser's single and scored on a wild pitch.
The Blue Devils' cheering never really stopped.
"It's definitely a well-rounded team, from people that start to those that are sitting on the bench," McGahan said.
"They're always in the game, every single moment, pumping their teammates up. They never let up."