South Elgin, Jacobs have good day at plate
While the coaches acknowledged that it was a tough task to get their teams focused entirely on the field playing three games Saturday, South Elgin and Jacobs were able to hit the ball well.
The Storm went 2-1 on the day at Jacobs after defeating the host Golden Eagles, 6-3, in their third game. South Elgin (4-3) lost to Lincoln-Way Central, 10-5, and beat Hoffman Estates, 8-0.
“We spend a lot of time on the offensive side of it,” Storm coach Jason Schaal said. “We hit the ball exceptionally well.”
Jacobs (2-3) also went 2-1, defeating Hoffman Estates, 11-1, in five innings and Lincoln-Way Central 11-5.
“We kind of lost focus there in the last game (against South Elgin),” Golden Eagles coach Jeremy Bauer said. “It was a long day.”
Against Jacobs, the Storm scored twice in the second inning, one on a wild pitch and one on a run-scoring groundout from Taylor Rees. In the third, South Elgin showed off some power. Sam Bolin led off with a double off the wall in left center. Alyssa Buddle followed with a two-run home run. One batter later Victoria Watt also doubled off the wall in left center. Watt then scored on a single from Brittany Koss for a 5-0 lead.
“Once we get a hit, everybody starts hitting.” Bolin said. “It’s that positive thing in our team.”
Jacobs got a run in the bottom of the third as Nicky Chapa drove in Jackie Hengler, who had doubled. South Elgin added an insurance run in the top of the seventh and the Golden Eagles took advantage of 3 Storm errors to score twice, but that was as close as Jacobs could get.
Bolin (4-2) picked up the victory in both of the Storm’s wins. Against the Golden Eagles, the junior allowed 5 hits and 1 earned run. She struck out six.
“All of my pitches were working,” Bolin said. “My screwball was really key today.”
South Elgin 8, Hoffman Estates 0: Kara Rodriguez had 2 hits including a grand slam home run for the Storm, while Sam Bolin had a double and allowed just 4 hits to pick up the win in the circle. Taylor Rees had 3 hits, Cara Wolf 2 hits and Alyssa Buddle 2 RBI for South Elgin.
Lincoln-Way Central 11, South Elgin 5: Victoria Watt had 2 hits including a double and Sam Bolin had a double for South Elgin. Taylor Rees was the losing pitcher.
Jacobs 11, Hoffman Estates 1: Kara Arceneaux was 3-for-3 with a triple and Jess Ditmers had a double to lead Jacobs to the win. Ditmers was also the winning pitcher, allowing just 3 hits.
Jacobs 11, Lincoln-Way Central 5: Kelsey Peterson hit two home runs. Jenna Teson added a home run and Kara Arceneaux had a double and triple for Jacobs in this win. Amber Livingston earned the victory.
“We got the rust off and started hitting the ball,” Jacobs coach Jeremy Bauer said. “We struggled scoring runs. That was a big focus to give our pitching staff a little more run support.