St. Edward nabs regional crown
Of the five seniors on the St. Edward softball team, four of them have experienced postseason success with the Green Wave.
On Saturday, it was finally Tarah McShane’s turn.
McShane, who transferred to St. Edward from Driscoll when Driscoll closed after her sophomore year, had never felt the regional championship feeling until Saturday, when her 2-run home run to right-center field in the bottom of the third inning sparked top seed St. Edward to an 8-0 win over No. 2 Luther North in the title game of the Class 2A Westminster Christian regional at Jockey Field in East Dundee.
“It’s weird because I was always playing against St. Ed’s,” said McShane, who has signed with Valparaiso. “But it’s like I’ve been here four years. These girls are all my sisters and this is a great feeling.”
The Green Wave, who have bounced back from an 0-6 start to go 17-3 since under first-year head coach Jaci Corn, will play Walther Lutheran at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Lisle sectional at Benedictine University. Lisle takes on Woodlands Academy at 4:30 p.m. and the winners return to Benedictine at 11 a.m. next Saturday for the sectional championship.
St. Edward, after being eliminated from the postseason by Lisle in the regional opener last year, won its third regional title in the last four years and sixth in program history.
Senior Sarah Field was untouchable in the circle Saturday, allowing just a bunt single, while striking out 11 and walking none.
The Green Wave used 3 Luther North errors and an RBI sacrifice bunt from Kelsey Richmond to score twice in the first inning.
But in the top of the third, Luther North (19-3) got its only hit — a bunt single from January Hammerberg — and when Hammerberg advanced to third the Wildcats appeared to be gaining some confidence and St. Edward looked sluggish.
That didn’t last long though as Field (15-9) got 2 strikeouts and a pop up to get out if the inning, and then McShane delivered the big knock in the bottom of the inning.
With one out, ever improving sophomore second baseman Ashley Gradisher (3-for-4) beat out an infield single and two pitches later McShane launched a shot well over the fence in right-center to give the Wave a 4-0 lead.
“I never really hit to hit home runs,” said McShane, who now has 8 homers and 41 RBI this season. “I’m just trying to move runners.”
The Wave added another run in the inning when Field singled and freshman courtesy runner Jasmine Deleon scored on an outfield error made on Kesley Richmond’s single.
St. Edward then scored once in the fourth, Gradisher driving in Kristy Kroll, who had walked, and two more in the sixth to put the game and the regional title away. Field, who didn’t allow a ball to be hit out of the infield by relying on precision spotting of her changeup, had an RBI single in the inning and another run scored on an error.
“Tarah and I have been working on it all week and we got it when it mattered most,” said Field, who has now won 59 career games at St. Edward and struck out 515 batters.
“We all wanted to do it for Tarah. Everyone deserves to do this. I’m so excited that we were able to come back from the start of the season and do this.”
The Wave added their final 2 runs in the bottom of the sixth as Field drove in Ana Peterson, who had singled, and Gradisher singled again and later scored on an error.
“It’s exciting,” said Corn, the former all-area standout from Elgin High who never experienced a regional championship as a player. “I’m grateful to have this group of girls for my first varsity experience. They’ve come a long way since the beginning of the season and they deserve to be where they’re at now.”