Santora blanks West Chicago

Holding her own baby in her arms, Emily Johnson praised Hannah Santora like a proud parent.

"She pitches like that," said Johnson, Santora's pitching coach until the past year, "she's unhittable."

Santora was that on Saturday, taking a no-hitter into the seventh inning against Johnson's West Chicago team in a 5-0 Glenbard North win in Carol Stream.

Santora and Glenbard North (15-5, 6-1 DuPage Valley Conference) turned an impressive double play in 24 hours. She shut out Naperville Central and Natalie Wunderlich on Friday, then outdueled West Chicago's Mary Connolly. Halfway through the DVC season, the Panthers are a game ahead of West Chicago (22-4, 7-2) in the loss column.

"Our goal was to sweep the week," said Glenbard North junior Jenny Nelson. "I've had this game circled on the calendar since the beginning of the year, since they knocked us out of sectionals last year. Biggest game of the year."

Just like on Friday, Glenbard North used the big inning to give Santora an early cushion.

The Panthers loaded the bases with one out in the third inning, aided by 2 West Chicago errors. Nelson got into a quick 0-2 hole against Connolly (17-2), then fouled off three pitches and took a ball. On the seventh pitch of the at bat Nelson went the other way for a 2-run double off the left field fence.

"All that was going through my head was, 'When's her changeup coming?' because that's her best pitch," Nelson said. "I knew I had to stay back. Light swing, it just went."

An out later Alyssa Jasinski singled in 2 more runs, giving Glenbard North a 4-0 bulge. Bri DiGioia doubled in Amanda Cygan for a fifth run an inning later. Glenbard North struck out just 4 times against Connolly, a day after fanning only 3 times versus Wunderlich.

"We really stress that if you eliminate strikeouts, you put pressure on the defense and the defense has to make plays," Panthers coach Josh Sanew said. "The second you make a mistake, good teams will take advantage. We've been able to do that the last couple days."

The 5 runs were only the second time all season West Chicago has given up more than 3, the first time since its third game.

"A few of those groundballs in the second inning took some bad hops," Johnson said, "and what are you going to do? She's going to get hit. Give credit where credit's due. We'll get 'em next time."

Santora gave up a leadoff walk to West Chicago's Jessica Wood to start the game, then set down the next 18 batters with 6 strikeouts. Jamie Dash doubled to lead off the seventh to break up the no-hitter, Santora settling for her 10th shutout of the season.

"The most important thing was to get runs," Santora said, "because I feel better when we get a lot of runs. I feel looser when I pitch, more confident."