Lake Park defeats Batavia
Given the schedule Lake Park plays and the wet spring it’s been, nothing catches the Lancers off guard.
Except maybe the call for “game on” Wednesday.
“I was surprised we were playing today, to be honest,” Lake Park coach Tom Mazzie said.
Mazzie’s Lancers played like a team ready to go, scoring in each of the first five innings while Lisa Baumgart held down a potent Batavia offense in No. 7 seed Lake Park’s 8-2 win at the Class 4A St. Charles East regional.
Lake Park (23-13), which dropped five of its last six games coming in, advances to play No. 2 St. Charles North in a 10 a.m. regional final Saturday.
“That’s why we schedule those tough games at the end of the year, so when we come into a game like this the stage doesn’t seem quite as big,” said Mazzie, whose team lost to Elk Grove, Oak Forest and Glenbard South in the last week. “The girls were relaxed and focused from the minute they walked off the bus.”
Seven of the Lancers’ nine hitters reached base and scored runs Wednesday. If that isn’t indication enough of Lake Park’s balance, consider that the two who drew 0-fers were leading average hitter Tara Palandri and Vanessa Wegner, who is tops on the team in home runs and runs batted in.
Shannon Fritsche’s hard-hit infield single started the Lancers first, and she scored on a grounder. Stephanie Aronson doubled in Sammi Vega in the second and scored on a fielder’s choice, and in the third a Wegner sacrifice fly scored Kelly O’Neill and Vega doubled in Stephanie Starr.
One inning later, Starr doubled in 2 more runs for a commanding 7-0 lead.
O’Neill, Starr and Vega all had 2 hits.
“We’re a team, one through nine,” Mazzie said. “Any girl on any given day can show up and hit.”
Batavia (20-9) finally got on the board against Baumgart in the fifth. Erin Costigan singled leading off and with two out Katie Ryan hit a missile of a home run way over the center field fence.
Ryan’s last official at-bat of the sophomore’s first varsity year was her 18th home run, which would tie her in the IHSA record books with Newton’s Becky Clark from 1982 for the most in state history.
“She’s amazing,” Batavia coach Ashley Symski said. “There’s another girl out there who’s had like 20 home runs down south this year, but the nice thing about it is Katie doesn’t care. She’s not worried about her numbers. I get excited about her numbers.”
Down 8-2, Batavia had a golden opportunity to draw closer in the sixth. Emily Dorjath doubled and Katie Coleman singled to put runners at second and third.
Costigan followed with an infield pop-up, and the runner was doubled off third for the third out.
“Too many mistakes,” said Symski, whose team also committed 3 errors. “You give a good team opportunities, they’re going to capitalize.”
Baumgart (16-9) beat Batavia 4-2 during the season and kept the Bulldogs in check again. She only struck out 1 batter, but coaxed 10 ground-ball outs. Lake Park only committed one harmless error behind her.
“I pitched them inside a lot, threw a lot of screwballs and stayed away from the outside. Especially against (Ryan),” Baumgart said. “I knew what they could do. I knew my team had my back.”
Lisle 7, Woodlands Academy 2:Bekka Houda (19-2) struck out a season-high 16, twirling a 1-hitter at the Class 2A Lisle sectional. Stephanie Petkovsek went 2-for-3 and drove in 4 runs for Lisle (26-4), which advances to Saturday#146;s sectional final.