West Chicago, Downers South settle for a tie in 11
Nobody walks away from a tie softball game satisfied.
West Chicago coach Emily Johnson felt fortunate Tuesday.
The Wildcats weathered 4 errors and less-than-stellar baserunning to tie Downers Grove South 6-6 at Pioneer Park. The game was called after 11 innings to make way for an adult park district game.
"We're lucky that was a tie," Johnson said. "That game should have been over in seven innings. But I have confidence that the girls will come back and play well tomorrow."
Downers Grove South (17-3) stranded runners in scoring position in the eighth, ninth and 10th innings. In the ninth Kristina Airdo doubled with one out and moved up on a passed ball, but West Chicago's Mary Connolly came back to strike out the next batter and get a weak liner to shortstop to end the threat.
In the 10th Emma Topps singled leading off and after a sacrifice Marissa Mersch reached on an error, putting runners at the corners. Connolly froze the next batter with a called third strike changeup, then got a ground out to put out the fire.
"We had opportunities with runners in scoring position," Mustangs coach Ron Havelka said. "That's when you gotta put the ball in play."
Connolly struck out eight, coming on in relief in the fourth inning and shutting Downers Grove South out over the final seven innings.
"She was hiding the changeup really well," Mersch said. "She had me on it a couple times."
Johnson planned to give Connolly the day off pitching with conference games Monday and Wednesday. She'll still go today at Wheaton North.
"That's how it goes. As a coach you gotta make the decision," Johnson said. "I asked her, 'Mary, are you OK?' I asked her every inning because I told her, 'You gotta pitch tomorrow. Know your limits.' She wanted to go back out there. She's a strong girl. I respect that she wanted to win that game."
Downers Grove South ace Katie Talbot pitched five innings of scoreless relief. West Chicago had a runner thrown out at third base in the sixth, which proved costly when Izzy Bruce looped a two-out single to center.
In the ninth Kaity Olson doubled with two outs, but after Connolly was walked intentionally Talbot retired the next batter.
Downers Grove South struck first with 3 runs in the top of the first, Michelle Lisy singling in a run and Alyssa Magallanes delivering a 2-run double. West Chicago (20-6) came back with 4 in the bottom half, a Rachel Johnson single scoring Bruce and Jenny Goldsmith doubling in a pair of runs. Lisy singled in Mersch in the second and Olsen doubled in Bruce in West Chicago's half of the second.
A Danielle Trezzo sacrifice fly after a West Chicago error pushed Downers Grove South ahead 6-5 in the top of the fourth. Connolly's sacrifice fly scored Bruce to tie it in the bottom half.
Hot-hitting Bruce went 3-for-5 with 2 doubles and reached base four times. Lisy was 4-for-6 with singles in her first four at-bats.
"The first couple innings were a little shaky when they got all their runs," Mersch said, "but after that we played really good defense. It was a fun game. Too bad we couldn't finish it out."