Glenbard West Hilltoppers rally to stun West Aurora
Glenbard West might not have surprised itself with Thursday's come-from-behind softball victory, but it sure shocked West Aurora.
Well, maybe the Hilltoppers were just a little surprised too.
Down by 5 runs against one of the best pitchers around, the young Hilltoppers rallied for 6 runs in their last at-bats to score a 7-6 nonconference victory in Glen Ellyn.
"Oh, my gosh, it was awesome," Hilltoppers senior Jayme Hefler said. "We can't believe it, but we know we're really good at coming back. It felt great. We're all high on life now. But it was awesome."
"We're not going to let one game define a week or a season," West Aurora coach Dave Zine said. "We have a conference game on Monday.
"I told them I'd bet the mortgage that that's not the way the game would have ended up, but give a lot of credit to West. They played solid. They stayed in it. I think every one but the last run was earned, so sometimes you just have to say that's the way the ball bounces. ... I told our girls, I would not change a thing that last inning. We had our best pitcher on the mound. (Glenbard) West came out and they believed they could make something happen and they did."
Glenbard West (5-4) - which started three freshmen and two sophomores - had scratched out just 2 hits in the first six innings against West Aurora pitcher Stephanie Becker (6-3), but it made contact for 7 hits in the seventh inning, scoring 5 runs with two out.
"That's what what we're going to do all year, hopefully," Hilltoppers coach Mary McGrane. "We're not going to stop fighting, which is great to see in these young kids."
Third baseman Ericka Lew scored the first run of the inning, coming in on Dayle Comerford's double to right center. Freshman Rachel Hitzemann, who had scored an unearned run in the third inning, singled home Comerford, and suddenly the Hilltoppers had hope.
Bri Wyatt's single to left was followed by Hefler's infield hit, driving in Hitzemann. Michele Waggoner dropped a single down the right-field line to score Wyatt and bring Glenbard West within a run of West Aurora (10-5). Senior catcher Ashley Steinhilber singled to right to bring Hefler home with the tying run, and Waggoner quickly followed after a throwing error to end the game.
Junior pitcher Cassie Goggin (3-2) earned the victory.
Becker finished with 13 strikeouts and walked just two batters. She took the loss, but she also earned the Hilltoppers' respect.
"She's tough. She throws great," Hefler said. "... Once we got used to her and laid off her riseball, we started hitting. Everybody just started taking their time in their at-bats and jumped on the good pitches instead of waiting for the riseball."
Zine saw a lot of positive things in the game.
"Not only did (Becker) have a good game, but we played extremely well for 6 1/2 innings," Zine said. "We had contributions throughout the entire lineup. Our defense played well. It was a good softball game, I thought."
The bottom of the order staked the Blackhawks to their big lead, scoring runs in pairs in the second, fourth and fifth innings. No. 6 hitter Maribeth Vasquez was 2-for-2 with 2 runs scored and a RBI, and Christina Hunger went 2-for-4 with 2 runs scored and a RBI in the eighth spot.
"It's a little bump in the road that happened today," Zine said. "It's going to happen. The key is not to let it happen too often, but you can't forget about the good things that happened."