West Aurora continues its winning ways
The West Aurora softball team wanted to hit the ground running Monday after returning from a successful 3-1 spring break trip last week to Cincinnati.
The Blackhawks did just that, taking advantage of Elgin's mistakes and then using timely hitting and good pitching to down the Maroons 11-2 in a nonconference game in Elgin.
"We came off a real good trip to Cincinnati where we played really well," said West Aurora coach Dave Zine, whose club is now 6-1 on the season. "I was pleased with the effort today. This team beat us last year and it was important for us to start the week on a good note."
Junior right-hander Christina Hunger scattered 4 hits over 4 innings of work and senior catcher Mary Beth Vasquez was 4-for-4 with 3 RBI to lead the Blackhawks.
Vasquez said she put in a little extra work with the bat after not having all that productive of a trip to Ohio.
"I didn't have a good swing (in Ohio) so I went out and practiced and got in some extra swings," said Vasquez. "I just had to wait back and take it to right."
That's just what Vasquez did in both of her at-bats during West Aurora's 7-run second inning. She stroked a single to right to lead off the inning and later scored on one of Elgin's 4 errors. Then, she delivered a two-out, 2-run single to right-center to plate the Blackhawks' sixth and seventh runs of the inning off Elgin junior Jennifer Fulton.
"Mary Beth really swang the bat well today," said Zine. "We had several kids hit well today."
Erin Pike and Hunger each had RBI - Pike when she was hit by a pitch and Hunger when she walked, both with the bases loaded - and LaRi Mitchell drove in a run with a screamer down the third baseline to highlight West Aurora's big inning.
Elgin (3-6) could muster nothing off Hunger, although the Maroons did have their chances. But Hunger struck out eight in her 4 innings and didn't allow a runner past second base.
"We came out flat at the beginning," said Elgin coach Chad Dahlman. "When you give up seven runs that early in a game it's hard to come back. We struck out six times in the first three innings. We didn't put the ball in play when we needed to and we didn't make the plays we needed to make defensively."
Elgin did score twice off West Aurora reliever Domonique Gacek in the fifth inning, using two West Aurora errors to help the cause. Elgin senior Kelly Patchett (2-for-4) drove in one of the runs with a fielder's choice grounder.
West added 2 runs in the sixth, one on a throwing error and the other on an RBI single from Vasquez. Freshman Ally Wayzer (2-for-4) tripled in the seventh to drive in Ali Hoffman, who had walked, and Wayzer scored on a groundout by Lizzie Saffell to account for the final margin.
Jaclyn Navarro added 2 hits for Elgin, which is schedule to host Lake Park in Upstate Eight Conference action today.