Pitchers give up nothing, lead Lisle to tourney title

Bekka Houda and Melanie Early proved to be good pupils in their pitching coach's absence.

Houda followed up Early's shutout of Rockridge Saturday morning with a 2-0 win over Morrison in the championship of the Lisle Invitational at Community Park.

The host Lions (18-9), with pitching coach Chris Jaegle out of town for her sister's wedding, repeated as tournament champions.

"We kind of used each other to figure out what we were gonna throw," said Houda, who communicated with senior catcher Colleen Drennan between innings. "We had to talk a lot. Colleen did a good job mixing it up."

Early similarly credited catcher Grace Riley for her 4-hit, 5-strikeout 2-0 win over Rockridge.

Against Morrison Houda took a no-hitter into the fourth inning, where she worked out of a second-and-third, two-out jam. Houda (11-5) struck out four and allowed just 3 hits, inducing 6 infield pop-ups.

"The whole tournament I thought we pitched really, really well," Lisle coach Jen Pomatto said. "Chris usually calls the pitches, but she talked to the kids on Thursday. Colleen's a senior. She knows what to call. And Grace did a phenomenal job in the first game today. We were all on the same page. It's a nice boost of confidence for those girls."

Early gave Houda all the offense she would need in the top of the first. One out after Drennan reached on an infield single, Early turned on a 1-2 offering for a 2-run homer to left-center, her fourth of the year.

"It was a high and inside pitch," Early said, "and that's what I've been working on recently. I used to not be able to hit that pitch at all. It's pretty natural for me to hit it now."

Drennan went 3-for-4 and Shelby Kretman 2-for-3 for Lisle, which opens Class 2A regional play at home against St. Edward Wednesday. St. Edward beat Lisle 3-2 on April 15, but the surging Lions go into the postseason 11-1 over their last 12 games.

"It's really good motivation to keep up our good mojo," Early said. "We've had some really good at-bats lately. Last time we played St. Ed our bats were kind of sleeping. They're a really good team, but I think we'll be ready for them this time."