West Chicago finishes off Rolling Meadows
With a 3-1 lead when their Class 4A Schaumburg regional semifinal resumed in the fourth inning on Thursday, West Chicago softball players were not content.
"We didn't want to just hold that lead," said Wildcats coach Emily Johnson. "We didn't want to sit on it. We wanted to add to it."
The No. 2 seeded Wildcats did exactly that as they scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth and posted a 5-1 victory over No. 15 Rolling Meadows.
West Chicago (27-5) advanced to Saturday's 10 a.m. championship and will face No. 7 Bartlett (20-14).
The Wildcats had built their 3-1 lead on Tuesday when the semifinal started before it was suspended because of rain.
Rovtar and Ali Taddeucci had RBI singles in the second inning and Kaity Olson belted her second homer of the season to left-center field in the third.
Meadows' run came in the first inning when senior Maddy Urban doubled with two outs and came home on junior MaryClare Loughery's base hit.
But Wildcats sophomore Mary Connolly gave up just one more hit after the first inning, a one-out single in the fourth inning by sophomore catcher Kelly Keyzer.
West Chicago's 2 runs in the sixth came when Jamie Dash reached on an error allowing Taddeucci and Taylor Kutilek to score with two outs.
Connolly ended up with a 2-hitter, 6 strikeouts and 2 walks.
"We're very confident with Mary pitching," said Wildcats' first baseman Rovtar. "And she's confident in our defense."
"She's (Connolly) good," said Meadows coach Tony Wolanski. "She is one of the top three pitchers we've seen this season. We should have gotten more runs in the first inning but they made a nice catch (centerfielder Kutilek) on Natalie Cannizzo's flyball."
The Mustangs finished at 17-18, the second most wins under coach Tony Wolanski in his six seasons.
"For a young and inexperienced group, I thought we had a very successful season," said Wolanski, whose team's second-place finish in the Mid-Suburban East was it best finish this decade. "We have seven starters back. So we have something to build on. The future is bright."
Meadows freshman Josie Suchecki gave up only 5 hits and finished a fine season at 12-10.