West Aurora hangs on to down Burlington Central
West Aurora's softball team was seemingly on cruise control going into the bottom of the seventh inning against Burlington Central Saturday.
Then, the Blackhawks had to hang on for dear life.
Leading 7-2 entering the bottom of the seventh, West Aurora allowed 4 runs before junior Francessca Evischi got the Rockets' No. 9 hitter to strike out with the tying run at second base as the Blackhawks (2-0) held on for a 7-6 nonconference win on blustery Rocket Hill.
Abby Morrow's 3-run home run with one out made it a 7-6 game and the Rockets (1-2) then got a two-out single from Jet Kein, who went to second on a wild pitch, but Evischi got the strikeout she needed to win the game.
"Give (Burlington Central) credit," said West Aurora coach Dave Zine. "They came back and got the big home run. That was just a lack of focus on our part."
West Aurora wasted little time in taking a lead on Kein and the Rockets. Christina Hunger's one-out triple in the top of the first was the first of four straight Blackhawk hits and five in the inning. Evischi singled to drive in Hunger and Evischi scored when Domonique Gacek dumped an infield single just out of the reach of BC shortstop Sam Gruner.
West Aurora left the bases loaded in the first and carried the 2-0 lead into the bottom of the fourth when the Rockets finally got to Gacek for a run. Sophomore catcher Sarah Kisch singled and scored on a two-out throwing error.
But West came back with 4 runs in the top of the fifth, which started with a leadoff walk to LaRi Mitchell. Hunger then beat out a bunt single that also included enough indecision on BC's part that allowed Mitchell to go to third. Evischi then delivered a 2-run double to the gap in left-center field to make it a 4-1 game.
"We weren't ready from the very first pitch and they jumped on us," said Rockets coach Scot Sutherland, who will now seek career win No. 250 at St. Charles East Monday.
"There's no excuse for what's going on defensively right now. We have too many players who have been at this level for too long. If it doesn't get fixed, it could be a long year."
Ali Hoffman's single drove in courtesy runner Lizzie Saffell with the Blackhawks' fourth run of the fifth inning and West added an insurance run in the sixth when Mitchell drew another walk, stole second, went to third on a passed ball and scored on a wild pitch.
"I was pleased with our offense early," said Zine. "We came out and scored some runs which is something we've had trouble doing against (Burlington) in the past."
BC's comeback in the bottom of the seventh started with a double from Gruner, who took third on Emily Bell's fly out and then scored on Kisch's single. Haley Albamonte sliced a single to right field and Morrow then jacked a 1-0 pitch over the fence in right-center to make it a 7-6 game.
Gacek got the win for the Blackhawks, pitching the first four innings and allowing just 3 hits, Evischi finished and struggled with her control somewhat, walking four. She also allowed 6 hits and had 3 strikeouts.
"Our game plan was for Gacek and Franny to split the game," said Zine, whose team will begin its spring break trip to Ohio on Monday with a game against defending Ohio small school state champion Cincinnati Ross. "I couldn't be more pleased with the way (Gacek) kept them in check."
Senior leadoff hitter Ashley Scheffler, who scored BC's second run on a passed ball in the fifth inning, was 2-for-4 and Kisch added 2 hits for the Rockets.
"Our offense came too little too late today," Sutherland said.
Kein suffered the loss in the circle for the Rockets, allowing 8 hits with 5 strikeouts and 5 walks.