Lisle comes up short in bid for state berth

Opportunity seemed to knock on Lisle's door time and time again Monday.

But the road to state softball stayed closed.

The Lions stranded 11 runners in a 3-1 loss to Morrison at the Class 2A Northern Illinois University supersectional in DeKalb.

Lisle (22-10), trying to advance to the state softball tournament for the first time since 2007, came up 1 win short for the second straight year.

But this game bore zero resemblance to last year's 6-0 shutout at the hands of Coal City ace Kirsten Verdun.

"We had every opportunity," Lisle coach Jen Pomatto said, "even if it didn't feel like it at times. Every inning we continued to get runners on base."

Lisle, which beat Morrison 2-0 to win the Lisle Invite on May 15, looked poised to jump out early in the top of the first.

Kelly Urban drew a one-out walk and Melanie Early lined a single to right. One out later Breanne Prindeville walked on a full count, but Morrison pitcher Christie Wiersema came back to strike out Jackie Todd on another full count to finish a 36-pitch inning unscathed.

Lisle's Bekka Houda retired the first two batters of the bottom of the first, but Wiersema turned on Houda's first pitch for a homer down the left-field line.

"I'm used to calling a better game; Bekka and I were struggling a little bit," Lisle senior catcher Colleen Drennan said. "It was a curve and it didn't break."

The next four Morrison batters reached base, Ashley Vegter singling in the Fillies' second run. Morrison made it 3-0 in the second inning, Marie Deter doubling with one out and scoring on a Wiersema single.

"You have to give them credit," Pomatto said of Morrison. "They got the clutch hits when they needed them and we didn't."

Houda pitched a 4-hit shutout in the teams' first meeting.

"I think we knew more what to expect," said Wiersema, hitless in the teams' first meeting. "She had given some trouble in the Lisle Tournament. Seeing her before definitely helped us. Her pitches jump at the end, especially the rise, so we needed to get on top of it."

The two teams' seasons somewhat mirrored each other. After a 7-8 start, Lisle won 15 of 16 games before Monday. Morrison (25-12), which advanced to state for the third time in four years, started 8-9 but has won 17 of its last 20.

The Fillies did it Monday even with shaky defense, committing an error in each of the last five innings in wet conditions at Mary M. Bell Field.

But Lisle couldn't break through until Mackenzie Buchelt's two-out double in the seventh scored Drennan.

"It's a different type of field than the ones we've played on," Wiersema said. "The ball kind of goes quicker because it's a harder surface."

Prindeville followed Buchelt's double with a walk, but Morrison reliever Danielle Stralow struck out the next batter to end it.

Four-year varsity starter Drennan, who will play next year at North Central, is the last starter to graduate off the team that lost to Casey-Westfield in the 2007 state quarterfinals.

"It's not like we got shut out, it's not like we didn't get people on base - we just didn't get them in," Drennan said. "It's frustrating."