Lake Park outlasts South Elgin
Lake Park softball coach Tom Mazzie says he never worries when his team gets behind in a game.
“I never feel like we’re down. We always have a chance to come back,” Mazzie says.
His Lancers proved their coach right again on Tuesday, coming from behind with a ferocious hitting attack to outlast host South Elgin 13-10 in an Upstate Eight Conference slugfest on a hot and exhausting May day.
“We’ve got four girls who are legitimately hitting .400 or better and two others in the high .300s,” Mazzie said. “We don’t have a hitter who can’t hit. One thing we’re blessed with at Lake Park is girls who are dedicated to softball and work at it all year.”
With the win the Lancers (18-8, 11-3) remained a half-game up on Bartlett and Neuqua Valley in the loss column in the race for the UEC Valley Division championship. Lake Park plays Waubonsie Valley today, Neuqua Friday and Saturday, then East Aurora next Wednesday before finishing the conference season at Bartlett May 20.
The loss more or less eliminated South Elgin (16-12, 8-7) from title contention.
The Storm jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning off Lake Park sophomore Marilyn Perry as junior Sam Bolin roped a 2-run double to right field.
The Lancers started their comeback in the top of the second with a line drive solo home run to center field off the bat of senior catcher Vanessa Wegner. South Elgin made it a 3-1 game in the bottom of the inning when Victoria Watt tripled and scored on Brittany Koss’ double, but the Lancers went ahead 5-3 in the top of the fourth. Tara Palandri had a triple in the inning, Sarah Koch an RBI sacrifice fly and Wegner came up with a big 2-run double that scored Kelli O’Neill, who had singled, and Stephanie Starr, who had doubled. Courtesy runner Mariah Harper then scored on Sammi Vega’s single.
Mazzie then chose to bring Lisa Baumgart in to relieve Perry and South Elgin greeted Baumgart with a 3-run third to retake the lead at 6-5. Shannon Conway doubled and came home on Alyssa Buddle’s RBI single that preceded a 2-run home run from Bolin, who was 3-for-4 on the day.
But Baumgart then shut South Elgin down the next two innings while her teammates scored three times to gain an 8-6 lead they didn’t relinquish. A 5-run fifth hiked the advantage to 13-6 before South Elgin came back with 4 runs in the bottom of the sixth to make it 13-10. But Baumgart got the Storm 1-2-3 in the bottom of the seventh to preserve the win for the Lancers.
“Ever since she struggled a little bit at the start of the season she’s been pitching as well as anyone on our side of the conference,” said Mazzie of Baumgart. “They made some adjustments late in the game but she kept hitters off balance with her change-up and her screwball stayed in.”
Wegner, the Lancers’ catcher, worked the strike zone well.
“Toward the end the change-up started going inside better,” she said. “They had started hitting the outside pitches.
“We were all exhausted from the heat but we pulled through. Our defense really helped out.”
Which South Elgin’s did not. A day after a sparkling defensive performance in a 2-0 win over Neuqua Valley, the Storm committed 6 physical errors and one crucial communication error that resulted in a 65-foot double for Starr in the third inning.
“We’re like Jekyll and Hyde,” said Storm coach Jason Schaal. “The best thing we did today is we didn’t give up. When you score 10 on Lake Park it’s a good sign. Unfortunately teams get runs on us when we make mistakes and we made too many today. Today wasn’t our best day defensively but there were a lot of positives. Sara Irving hit the ball real well again today and Shannon Conway did a great job today.”
Palandri reached all four times she was up for the Lancers, while Koch had 2 hits, Starr 3 hits with 2 doubles, Wegner 3 hits and 3 RBI, and Vega, Logan Cahill and Aronson each 2 hits. Kara Rodriguez had a 2-run double for the Storm, Conway 2 doubles, Irving 2 hits and Brittany Koss 2 hits with a double. Bolin (13-9) suffered the loss, allowing 9 runs in 5-plus innings.