Wave comes back to earn 5th place at Chicagoland Challenge
The Chicagoland Challenge was exactly that for the softball teams from St. Edward and Hampshire Saturday.
Both the Green Wave and Whip-Purs lost their first-round games in the tournament hosted by St. Edward at the Elgin Sports Complex, but then registered come-from-behind wins in their second game, which set up a meeting of the two in the fifth-place game.
St. Edward scored 2 runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, the winning run scoring on Megan Smith's single, to outlast Hampshire 5-4.
"We didn't feel like we played very well the first time we played (Hampshire)," said St. Edward coach Mike Rolando of a 5-2 St. Edward win on April 3. "Today we stayed off (Tegan Singleton's) riseball and we put the ball in play. That's the fourth time we've won a game in the bottom of the seventh or eighth inning and with some tough (Suburban Catholic) conference games coming up this week that's good for us."
There was no late-inning magic for St. Edward in its opener, though, as Chicago Christian crushed the Wave 11-2. St. Edward, which committed 4 errors, managed just 5 hits in the loss with Kristi Knott and Kristina Brockner each driving in runs. Madeline Foehringer took the loss in the circle, allowing 7 earned runs and 8 walks.
"We had a very slow start and we just weren't ready to play in that first game," Rolando said. "You sleep on a good team, they're gonna put it on you. I didn't think Madeline pitched that bad, we just had too many errors."
The Green Wave bounced back to beat Farmington 6-3 in the second round, just after the Farmers had lost to Marengo in the bottom of the seventh inning in the opening round.
Brockner (2B, RBI) and all-tournament choice Stephanie Werner each had 2 hits in the win and Knott drove in 2 runs.
Sarah Field allowed just 4 hits to earn the win in the circle.
"We bounced back against Farmington and played together against a good team," Rolando said.
Hampshire (4-7) carried a 4-3 lead into the bottom of the seventh against the Green Wave in the fifth-place game but Werner led off the bottom of the inning with a double, one of her 3 hits in the game, and stayed at second on an infield hit by Brockner. Field then laced an RBI double to left to tie the game and after Hampshire intentionally walked Lea Diaz (2-for-3), Smith delivered the game-winner when she lofted a single over the right fielder's head to score Brockner with the winning run.
Field again picked up the win for the Wave (11-4), this time allowing 3 hits and striking out 10.
"What an exciting game," said Hampshire coach Ken Bram. "I'm proud of the way the girls played. We played aggressively. We made some mistakes and we couldn't field a bunt all day but we had some people playing out of position and we didn't make the plays we needed to make."
The Whips had a tough opener as well, falling to Illiana Christian 9-0, getting only a single off the bat of Kristen Follman. Singleton took the loss.
Hampshire then bounced back to grab a 4-3 win over Aurora Central Catholic, using a laser shot to right-center by all-tournament selection Megan Roadcap to win the game in the bottom of the seventh. Ally Kent struck out 15 and tossed a 2-hitter for the Whips.
Marengo, in the tournament for the first time, beat Illiana Christian 2-1 in the championship game. Genoa-Kingston upended Chicago Christian 3-0 for third place.