Warren comeback sinks Meadows

Warren coach Carri McGahan saw a certain quality in her Blue Devils two months ago when they began their season at the Barrington Spring Fling.

“From the beginning of this season, these girls have shown they can persevere,” she said. “That’s the one thing about this team — it does not give up.”

Despite trailing 2-0 after four innings of Wednesday’s semifinal of the Palatine reginal, the No. 7 Blue Devils struck for 2 runs in the fifth and added 2 more in the sixth to rally for a 4-2 triumph over No. 9 Rolling Meadows.

The triumph moved Warren (21-12) into Friday’s 4:30 p.m. championship game when it will meet No. 2 Palatine (24-9) for the third time in four years for a regional crown.

“They’re a veteran group,” McGahan said of Palatine, which defeated the Blue Devils 4-0 and 11-4 during the regular season. “And they are well-coached. It should be a good game.”

Wednesday’s game was a good one as the two teams battled to the end when junior pitcher Jessica Demski (10-2) notched the win.

She retired the final three batters in the top of the seventh after Kelly Keyzer led off the seventh with a base hit to right.

Keyzer (2-for-4) also started the game with single to left but Demski retired the next three batters.

“You could tell Jessica wanted this game,” McGahan said. “She has gradually become our No. 1 pitcher this season and she is only a junior.”

The Mustangs (18-16) struck first as Emily Skorin belted a one-out double over the center fielder’s head and then came home when Natalie Cannizzo reached on an outfield error with two outs.

Meadows extended the lead to 2-0 in the fourth when Grace Skorin led off with a single to left and eventually came home on an error.

Warren tied the game in the bottom of the fifth on back-to-back RBI singles by sophomore Megan Sowa and junior Sarah Sanders (2-for-4, double).

Sowa then gave the Blue Devils the lead in the sixth when she singled to left center to drive home senior Paige Dombrowski (2-for-2) and junior Lexi Leneau (3-for-3, 2 runs).

Senior Allie Schultz also had a hit in the decisive inning.

The Mustangs got out of it with a nice catch by second baseman Josie Suchecki (2-for-4) and nifty shoestring grab by right fielder Grace Skorin (1-for-3).

“They (Warren) took advantage of our mistakes in the fifth and sixth innings,” said Mustangs coach Tony Wolanski, who received 3 strikeouts from sophomore pitcher Sara Brunlieb (15-9). “We made a few too many to win a game like this. But I thought we played well for the most part. We just couldn’t get the big hit.”

Sowa, the Blue Devils’ leadoff batter, had the big hits for Warren. She ended up 3-for-4 with 3 RBI.

“I love the pressure situations,” said the center fielder. “We knew we had to work a hard to make sure we could win this game.”

Wolanski appreciated the hard work from his seniors (Keyzer, Kayla Mueller, Abby Matayka and Emily Skorin).

“I appreciate what they did for our program,” Wolanski said. “They always worked hard and did things the right way.”