St. Edward rolls in regional opener
The start of the postseason proved to be little challenge to St. Edward's softball team Tuesday as the top-seeded Green Wave rolled to a 17-0 win over Willows Academy in the semifinals of the Class 2A Driscoll regional in Addison.
St. Edward (18-12), which matched last year's win total, will meet the winner of today's game between Driscoll and Woodlands Academy on Saturday at 11 a.m. in the regional championship game. The Green Wave and Highlanders split their two Suburban Catholic Conference games this season.
Sarah Field, Madeline Foehringer and Kristina Kolodziejczyk combined for a five-inning no-hitter for the Green Wave, which pounded out 13 hits and took advantage of 10 errors by Willows (5-11).
"We've been a little injury-ridden lately so we need to make sure we keep our people healthy," said St. Edward coach Mike Rolando, who led the Wave to an Elite Eight appearance a year ago. "We got everyone a couple of at-bats today and then we brought some sophomores in who did a nice job of getting the bat on the ball."
The Green Wave scored 7 runs in the first inning to put the game away early. Megan Smith, Kristina Brockner and Kolodziejczyk each had RBI in the inning and Field had a 2-run double. Field duplicated that in the second inning when St. Edward scored 5 runs. Ricki Tierney also had an RBI in the inning.
Tierney, Maddie Kerr and Kolodziejczyk each had RBI in the third inning and Veronica Rolando and Kerr drove in runs in the fourth.
The Green Wave played without Lea Diaz, the team's starting shortstop and one of its leading hitters, who suffered an eye injury in practice Monday. Having lost Kelsey Richmond and Taylor Lundquist to injuries recently, St. Edward called sophomores Morgan Garland, Salli Slack, Ana Peterson, and Darcy Gaige up for the postseason and they all contributed to the win Tuesday. Sophomore Cara Wolf filled in for Diaz at short and played an errorless game.
"Sarah pitched great, we got her a couple innings of work, and then Madeline and Kolo did a nice job," said Rolando. "We just need to fine tune our hitting and pick up some hits for Lea to compete with Driscoll Saturday."