Lisle's Early makes most of surprise start

Melanie Early found out an hour before first pitch Friday she'd be throwing her first varsity conference game.

She sure looked ready.

The Lisle sophomore struck out seven, retiring 14 straight batters at one point in the Lions' 5-0 win over Wilmington at Community Park.

"I was really relaxed today - looser than I am for other games," Early said. "I was pretty surprised that I got the start today; I was expecting to be in center field where I usually am. But I just stayed calm."

Early (2-0) shared pitching duties with Bekka Houda as a freshman but didn't get into any Interstate Eight Conference games. In her first start since March 23, Early worked out of a two-on, one-out jam in the first.

Summer-ball teammate Stephani Dzak reached on an error for Wilmington (4-5, 0-1) leading off the second, but that was the last baserunner until a leadoff double in the seventh.

"My dropball was perfect today," Early said, "and they were going for it a lot. And I have a screwball that was going right in on the batters' hands. They were getting jammed a lot. I actually feel a lot better when I have a lot of time off. I think it gets my mind set up for the next game."

"We went a lot with Bekka last year," Lisle coach Jen Pomatto said, "but Melanie has worked really hard. She did a phenomenal job today. We're more comfortable asking her to throw some of her other pitches, not just her fastball."

Wilmington coach Jack Skole thought his team was guilty of being too aggressive at the plate.

"We came out and were trying to kill the ball," Skole said. "Softball is not a home-run hitting game."

Early's teammates made sure she was pitching from the lead after her tough first. Shelby Kretman singled with one out in the bottom of the first, Colleen Drennan reached on an error and Mackenzie Buchelt doubled both in for a 2-0 lead.

Lisle (3-2, 1-0) tacked on 3 insurance runs in the seventh. Early reached on a bunt single, advanced to third on Jackie Todd's sacrifice and scored on a wild pickoff attempt. Kretman later added a 2-run single.

"Today I felt was a great all-around game for us," Pomatto said. "We worked really hard this week for our team to be a team. People don't always look at that as being a big part of softball, but for us that was something we were lacking coming into this week. We saw it today."

Friday was a game the Lions had circled. Exactly one year prior Wilmington beat Lisle 4-2.

"We had the bases loaded in that game and we ended up getting called out for leading off second early with our No. 3 hitter up," Pomatto said. "We wanted to make sure we came out and played well against Wilmington, and we did."