First rivalry game goes to mentor
Kris Kalivas could only laugh, asked what it was like coaching against her ex-player Aly Kelley for the first time.
“It makes you feel kind of old,” said the Metea Valley coach, formerly at Waubonsie Valley, adding seriously: “Aly’s a great colleague at this point now. It makes the rivalry more friendly.”
Mentor has bragging rights on protege for now, as the host Mustangs scored 4 runs in the fifth inning and 5 more in the sixth to rally past Waubonsie 10-4 on Tuesday.
Metea (7-6, 5-4 Upstate Eight Valley) trailed 4-1 after four innings but showed good resolve late.
“Fortunately, offensively we’ve been able to keep that confidence and stick with it,” Kalivas said of her first-year varsity program. “Even when we get down kids have confidence at the plate to fight back. We were able to do that once again.”
Emily Baker reached on an error to start the Metea fifth, Antoinette Senese followed with a bunt single and Alise Perna singled in Baker. Alyssa Coletto’s single scored Senese and with one out Anna Petersen lined a single under the shortstop’s glove to bring in Perna, making it 4-4. Coletto came in with the go-ahead run on a wild pitch.
Metea then batted around in the sixth to pad its lead, aided by two walks, two errors and two wild pitches. Sara Knox’s two-run single capped off the rally.
“We’ve been hitting pretty good lately,” said freshman leadoff hitter Perna, who was 2-for-2 with a double, reached base four times and scored three runs. “We just keep our heads in there and don’t give up. With coach having coached at Waubonsie, it kind of makes you want to beat them more.”
Scoring runs in bunches is nothing new for Metea, 17-3 winners over South Elgin last Friday. The Mustangs also put up 7 runs on Saturday against Bartlett.
“One through nine, I have complete confidence in these girls to get on base,” Kalivas said. “We have an offense that can score — we just need to make sure defensively that we keep the other team down.”
Waubonsie (7-14, 4-7) came in riding its biggest win of the season on Monday at St. Charles East. The Warriors pounced early, sending eight batters to the plate in a 4-run second. Amanda Lack singled in 2 runs and Amanda Minahan tripled in Lack.
“I think yesterday’s game with St. Charles really built our confidence,” Kelley said. “A lot of the time I think our kids’ mentality has been to play not to lose; today we came in playing to win, and you saw that early.”
Stephanie Bova (2-0) came on in relief for Metea with two outs in the second and Waubonsie leading 4-1 and shut the door the rest of the way.
“She’s done that all year,” Kalivas said. “She’s pretty much been our ‘go-to, get out of a jam pitcher.’ I can’t be more happy with what she’s done in that role.”
“Our bats just went dead,” Kelley said. “We can never let up. Our kids know it’s a matter of executing and getting it done. We had runners on base in almost every inning; we just couldn’t bring them in.”