Glenbard North closes gap on first-place West Chicago
If Glenbard North has a secret to hitting Mary Connolly, the other softball teams in northern Illinois want in on it.
Jenny Nelson and Lilly Fecho homered, and the Panthers beat West Chicago 7-0 for their second win over the Wildcats ace in just over two weeks.
Glenbard North (18-6, 7-3 DuPage Valley Conference) has scored 18 earned runs off Connolly (18-5) in 111/3 innings. The DePaul-bound junior has given up just 15 earned runs in 1332/3 innings the rest of the year.
"You just gotta be patient up there," Nelson said. "She has a nasty changeup; everybody knows it. As long as you wait on it and keep your hands back, you're OK. She's one of the quickest pitchers we've seen all year so we needed to choke up when we got to two strikes."
Glenbard North's win puts the defending DVC champion right back into the title chase, a half-game behind West Chicago (21-7, 7-2).
"This was pretty much a must-win game," Nelson said. "Now we just gotta wait and see who can beat West Chicago for us to win conference."
The Panthers did much of their damage with two strikes, more often than not off changeups. Two pitches after swinging through a changeup, Susan Lindstrom blooped a two-strike change into short right field to make it 1-0 with two outs in the second. Nelson followed with a high fly to left, and when the West Chicago left fielder fell down the ball rolled free, scoring Lindstrom.
In the fourth Fecho connected on a 1-2 changeup for a leadoff homer to right, her fifth of the year, to make it 3-0. One inning later Nelson went the opposite way on a 1-2 low changeup for her ninth homer of the year and 5-0 lead.
"I've had a tough time in the past hitting her changeup. Her pitching coach and she knows it," Nelson said. "They were trying to get me on it all day, but I was staying on it and fouling a lot of them off."
West Chicago coach Emily Johnson tipped her cap toward a balanced, hard-hitting Glenbard North lineup.
"They're a good, disciplined hitting team," Johnson said. "They did what they could to put the ball in play. We always know Glenbard North puts up a fight. We needed to fight a little bit harder."
The run support was more than enough for Fecho (15-6). The tall sophomore lefty took a no-hitter into the fifth and finished with 6 strikeouts in a 3-hit gem.
Fecho has allowed just 10 runs over her last 8 starts with 4 shutouts, going 7-1 in that stretch.
"I feel like I've kind of picked it up," Fecho said. "I always come out here confident and relaxed. I know I have an awesome defense behind me, so I just have to go out there and pitch my game."
"She's really adjusted," Glenbard North coach Josh Sanew said. "She had it stuck in our head even 1-2, 0-2 I still gotta throw a good pitch, whereas now I think she's saying 'let's hit a spot and make them hit my pitch.' With her stuff and being a lefty she has so much movement. And she's throwing harder and harder every game."
West Chicago's Izzy Bruce singled in the sixth to extend her hitting streak to 20 games.