Winning ending eludes Lisle at state
EAST PEORIA — Three weather delays and two state tournament losses is enough to rain on any team’s parade.
Leave it to Lisle coach Jen Pomatto to find the silver lining.
“There are a lot of teams sitting at home that never even got this opportunity,” said the ever-positive Pomatto. “Nobody can control Mother Nature.”
A Saturday that epitomized a rain-soaked spring ended for Lisle with a 5-1 loss to Alton Marquette in the Class 2A third-place game. The game was called with two out in the bottom of the fifth when lightning was sighted near EastSide Centre.
The stop-start day, coupled with dominant Alton Marquette pitcher Alexis Silkwood, seemed to sap Lisle’s reserves.
A game originally scheduled for 4:30 p.m. was first pushed back at 4:15 p.m. after both teams took infield because of rain and lightning in the area. It started just past 6, but after Lisle’s Bekka Houda pitched a scoreless top of the first another lightning sighting forced the teams off the field again until 6:40.
It resumed with intermittant light rain until called just after 8 p.m. because of more lightning.
Alton (33-4) jumped on Lisle with 3 runs in the third and 2 in the fourth for a 5-0 lead. At that point the Lions (28-6) hadn’t yet managed a baserunner.
Summer Stitt broke up Silkwood’s perfect game with a two-strike single to start the fourth, Stephanie Petkovsek followed with an infield single and Mackenzie Buchelt bounced a single to left to score Stitt.
“We were all ready to play,” Buchelt said, “but I feel like coming back and forth really took a lot of energy out of us. I still feel like we just had one bad inning and could have beaten that team.”
Silkwood struck out the next batter for her 500th of the season, a new state record. The strong-armed 5-foot-4 sophomore eclipsed the 499 strikeouts of Glenbard North’s Lindsey Veselsky in 2002.
“I’m awestruck,” said Silkwood, whose six strikeouts gave her 501 for the season. “I go out looking to throw one pitch at a time and I don’t get too caught up in numbers.”
Houda (21-4), who threw 117 pitches on Friday against Morrison in scorching mid 90s heat, gutted through four innings and 100 pitches in her last high school start before giving way to Melanie Early. Houda lost the sensation in the ring and pinkie fingers of her throwing hand midway through Friday’s game but was cleared to go Saturday and gave up 4 hits and 4 walks with 6 strikeouts.
“She hasn’t had four walks in a game in a long time, let alone in a game like this. She tried,” Pomatto said. “Her arm just got fatigued. It finally caught up to her.”
Lisle’s fourth-place trophy is its first in softball and continued a huge climb back to the top after advancing to the 2007 quarterfinals.
Losing eight seniors from the 2007 team, Lisle went 5-20 in 2008 under then first-year coach Pomatto, but Houda transferred in from Lockport and the Lions advanced to the supersectionals in 2009 and 2010. Lisle broke that barrier to East Peoria this week.
It shouldn’t end here.
Lisle returns its core next year, including Valparaiso recruit Buchelt, leadoff hitter Stitt, center fielder/pitcher Early and Grace Riley behind the plate.
“Is it the way we wanted it to end? No,” Pomatto said. “But you gotta be happy that we were here and want more next year.”