Houda, Lisle blank St. Edward in postseason again
In this case, a year didn't make a bit of difference.
Just as she did last year in the sectional semifinals, Lisle junior Bekka Houda shut down the St. Edward offense Wednesday while her Lions teammates had their way with the Green Wave in a 10-0 win in the semifinals of the Class 2A Lisle softball regional at Lisle Community Park.
"Two years in a row," said St. Edward coach Mike Rolando. "That's 14 innings and we haven't gotten a run off her."
Houda (12-5) may have shut St. Edward down for 20 innings on Wednesday. She tied her career high with 15 strikeouts and allowed just 5 hits - two of them that didn't leave the infield - in helping the third-seeded Lions (19-9) advance to Friday's 4:30 p.m. championship game against top-seeded Immaculate Conception.
"I was really happy with my catcher (Colleen Drennan) and her calls today," said Houda. "I knew (St. Edward) had some new players and good hitters and I just had to stay away from them. I just told myself I had to buckle down and get the job done. (Drennan) did a good job of mixing it up with change-ups and dropballs."
Lisle wasted no time in taking the lead, scoring 2 runs in each of the first two innings and adding a 4-spot in the third to lead 8-0.
St. Edward junior Sarah Field (17-10) walked 3 batters and was called for two illegal pitches in the first inning. Mackenzie Buchett's single drove in Drennan, who led off with a walk, and Melanie Early, who walked and stole second, scored on an error.
Another Green Wave (20-15) error led to Early's 2-run single in the second and the floodgates opened in the third with two outs. With Jackie Todd (one-out single) on base, Shelby Kretman delivered a two-out double and No. 9 hitter Dani Grego slapped a single up the middle to score Todd. After another St. Edward error advanced the runners and Drennan walked again, Kelly Urban's infield single plated Grego. Early then delivered another 2-run single and the Lions had a more than comfortable 8-0 advantage. They added two more in the seventh on an RBI double from Steph Petkovsek and an RBI triple from Drennan.
"We always want to score first and win every inning and we did that today," said Lisle coach Jen Pomatto. "We knew if we waited back and took the outside pitch to right we'd be in good shape. We do everything with the bat and the kids are aggressive at the plate."
Meanwhile, Houda was next to untouchable. St. Edward managed to get a runner to third base only once in the game and only senior Kristi Knott had a good day at the plate, going 2-for-4 with two solid singles.
"She was on fire today," said Pomatto of Houda, who did not pitch last month when St. Edward beat Lisle 3-2 in a nonconference game in Elgin. "She wanted it. She's worked on her mental game this year and you can see it. She did a great job."
For two-time defending regional champion St. Edward, the end to another 20-win season came too fast.
"This team was a great group of girls," said Knott, a four-year varsity starter who saw her stellar three-sport St. Edward career come to an end as she now prepares to attend the University of Illinois.
"Everyone played their hearts out today but (Lisle) was really good. The ball just didn't bounce our way."
Rolando echoed his senior center fielder's sentiments.
"The girls had a great attitude and they worked hard," he said. "They were fun to be around. Unfortunately the ball didn't bounce our way today. We made some defensive mistakes but the bottom line is we didn't score a run. (Lisle) played a great game and they're a tough team."