St. Edward heavy favorite to win regional
The old saying goes that games aren’t played on paper, so first-year St. Edward softball coach Jaci Corn won’t let her Green Wave get ahead of themselves this week.
But it would be an upset of monumental proportions for St. Edward to not win this week’s Class 2A Westminster Christian regional at Jockey Field in East Dundee.
“We’re confident heading into the postseason,” said Corn, whose team is trying to win its third regional title in the last four years. “We respect all of our opponents but we’re the No. 1 seed and we intend to defend that.”
St. Edward (15-9) has gone 15-3 since an 0-6 start to the season. The Green Wave finished 11-4 and in second place in the Suburban Christian Blue.
The Wave will open regional play at 4 p.m. today against Willows Academy. No. 2 seed Luther North (18-2) takes on host Westminster Christian (8-14) 30 minutes after the conclusion of the St. Edward game and the winners return to Jockey at 11 a.m. Saturday for the regional title and a trip to next week’s Lisle sectional at Benedictine University.
St. Edward’s offense has been led all season by its catcher, senior Valparaiso recruit Tarah McShane, who leads the area in hitting (. 534), is second in home runs (7), first in RBI (38) and first in triples (8). She has struck out just once in 73 at-bats and has a 1.151 slugging percentage.
Sophomore leadoff hitter and shortstop Kali Kossakowski (. 427, team-high 27 runs) and senior pitcher Sarah Field (. 400, 2 HRs, 19 RBI) also propel the offense, while sophomore second baseman Ashley Gradisher has been a pleasant surprise for the Wave with her .297 batting average.”
Field (13-9, 2.73 ERA, 138 Ks) is the four-year mainstay in the circle.
“Tarah and Sarah have been our leaders all year but I’ve also been pleased with the play of Ashley Gradisher, Kali Kossakowski and Kelsey Richmond,” Corn said. “If Sarah’s on her game and we play good defense we can be tough to beat.”
Westminster Christian will be facing a Luther North team it lost to last week by scores of 10-0 and 13-3. Luther North finished 11-1 in the Northeast Athletic Conference, winning the program’s first league title.
Rachel Fugiel (. 520), Katie Moeller (. 500), Porsche Griggs (. 423) and Hannah Graves (. 333) lead the Warriors.
Around the horn: Elgin junior Hannah Perryman has tied the IHSA record for grand slam home runs in a season with 3. ... South Elgin’s game on Friday will be at Judson University at 7:30 p.m. The Storm host Waubonsie Valley for Senior Night.