WW South finds a hero in sophomore Zablock
"Who wants to be the hero?" asked Wheaton Warrenville South assistant coach Tom Wentland before the bottom of the seventh Tuesday.
Megan Zablock, that's who.
Zablock doubled in Kristy Santora with one out, giving the host Tigers a 7-6 walk-off win over St. Francis.
"I was really nervous because I knew I was coming up," said sophomore Zablock, a first-year varsity player. "But I really wanted that hit."
Santora, who hit a grand slam in the final at bat of a win last Friday, doubled leading off the seventh of a 6-6 tie. One out later Zablock went to two strikes, then hooked a pitch foul over the WW South dugout. She creamed the next offering well over the St. Francis left fielder to bring in Santora.
"I stayed more tall like my coaches taught me to," Zablock said. "Usually I choke up a little bit, but with this pitcher, she was a little slower, so I kept my normal swing. I waited back on it more."
"The nice thing was Kristy Santora setting it up," WW South coach Denise McCance said. "When you're tied and the girl leading off the inning hits a double you have a lot of options. I thought about having Megan bunt her over, but I'm glad I didn't."
St. Francis (3-3) lost its third straight game, two of them coming in the game's final at bat. Spartans coach Ralph Remus could take satisfaction in how his girls battled, though.
St. Francis trailed 6-3 after four innings but scored 2 runs in the fifth and tied it on Emily Karpinski's RBI single in the sixth. Kelcey Fabianski doubled in a run in the fifth.
"We'd like to win," Remus said, "but there's no shame in this game. We came from behind and hit the ball. When they hit a shot to win the game you can't feel bad. We need to have these kinds of competitive games and I think the kids realize that too."
Karpinski got St. Francis out to an early 3-0 lead with a bases-clearing, two-out double in the first.
"She was due," Remus said, "so it was a good day for her."
WW South (4-3) answered with single runs in the first and second, then grabbed a 4-3 lead on Katie Ottolin's 2-run single in the third. Claire Linebarger drilled a 2-out, 2-run double in the fourth to make it 6-3.
WW South starting pitcher Julianne LaFleur settled down after a rocky first, setting down the last 10 batters she faced with 3 strikeouts before giving way to reliever Hannah Granger (3-0). Granger pitched a 1-2-3 seventh, setting up Zablock's heroics.
"Hannah settled down a little bit and pitched really well in the top of the seventh, looked really sharp," McCance said. "Julianne got better as the game wore on. Every inning she got stronger and stronger."