Geneva upsets Lake Park
From no-hit into the fourth inning to regional champions four innings later.
It's been that kind of week in Geneva.
The No. 12 seed Vikings scored the tying run in the seventh and 3 runs in the top of the eighth to upend No. 4 Lake Park 4-2 at Saturday's Class 4A Geneva regional final.
Geneva (21-16), a regional champion for the first time since 2005 after upsetting fifth seed Glenbard North and Lake Park, advances to face No. 1 Elk Grove in a sectional semifinal Wednesday at St. Charles North.
"We all started off shaky at the plate; we just weren't on the ball," said Geneva's Elena Wright, who doubled to start the seventh-inning rally and homered in the eighth. "I just went up there in the seventh inning and said, 'I have nothing to lose. I have to do something. My teammates are counting on me.'"
Trailing 1-0 through six innings while being 1-hit by Lake Park's Angie Bates, Geneva got a one-out Wright double in the seventh. Wright moved to third on a wild pitch and Kirsten Searcy walked on four pitches. Taylor Medernach followed with an infield grounder that she beat out, scoring Wright with the tying run.
Kelly Loy came on in relief of Bates to wiggle out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam, but Melissa Barber golfed a double off the fence in left with one away in the eighth.
Stacey Cladis followed with a full-count double that one-hopped the fence in center to score Barber, and Wright drove an 0-1 pitch down the left-field line for a 2-run homer and a 4-1 lead.
"My double before that felt better, actually," Wright said. "I thought it was going foul."
Lake Park mounted a rally in the bottom of the eighth, as Kelly Mieszala doubled to start things and Alyssa Robison singled her in. But Geneva's Kelly McCaffrey then retired Lake Park's 3-4-5 hitters in order.
Lake Park (26-10), which came in scoring just a tick under 6 runs per game, got its only other run in the first. Mieszala tripled and scored on a Robison single.
"One run (going into the seventh) is just not good enough to get it done," Lake Park coach Tom Mazzie said. "Hats off to their pitcher. We got runners on base like we always do; we just didn't get them around."
Geneva pitchers Kristyn Ruitenberg and McCaffrey held the potent lineups of Glenbard North and Lake Park to 3 runs over 15 innings in two games.
McCaffrey retired 10 straight batters after Samantha Becker's two-out single in the first. She worked out of two-on jams in the first, fourth and fifth innings. In the fifth a hot shot off the bat of Carly Willert was speared by Geneva shortstop Dori Rogers, who doubled a runner off second to end the threat.
"I honestly thought to win this week we'd have to be winning 7-6 type games," Geneva coach Greg Dierks said. "Kelly was great today. She really settled in and kept us close enough to do it."
Bates, one of six Lake Park senior starters Saturday, was stellar in striking out 10.
"I can't say enough about Angie Bates," Mazzie said. "(Giving up) one run through seven innings should be enough. It's too bad for her to go out like this. The last 3-4 weeks, she's been a dominant pitcher and she was again today."