St. Viator edges Prospect

Although she pitched a little in middle school, sophomore Sam Hogan was primarily a catcher.

But once St. Viator coach Dan Twarog saw Hogan catching in the batting cage last season and whip the ball back to the pitcher under-handed, things clicked.

“I said to her, ‘We need you to be our pitcher,’ ” Twarog said. “Sam worked really hard from last June to now.”

And it all paid off in the Lions’ season-opener against visiting Prospect on Wednesday in 70-degree temperatures.

The right-hander got all the runs she needed in the bottom of the first inning when Maryville-bound senior Alex Flasch belted a 2-run homer over the left-center field fence.

Hogan went on to throw a 4-hitter with 5 strikeouts and 1 walk as the Lions sneaked past the Knights 2-1.

Knights ace Hanna Lythberg also sparkled in her senior debut.

After surrendering the 1-0 one-out blast by Flasch, Lythberg retired the final 16 batters in a row and finished with a 2-hitter and 9 strikeouts.

Lions catcher Gina Mastrodomenico beat out an infield single and went to second on an error just before Flasch hit the game-winner.

“I was just thinking about making contact,” said Flasch, who hit 5 homers last spring. “If you start looking for a home run, you just pop it up.”

After the homer, Knights second baseman Sarah Scaccia made a terrific play on a pop-up to shallow right field which she turned on and caught over her shoulder while falling to the ground.

It was the first of 16 straight batters retired by Lythberg.

“It was our first game,” said Lythberg, who was also the only player in the game with multiple hits. “I’m sure we’ll get there. With a little more hitting, we’ll be right there.”

Lythberg (2-for-3, RBI) had the biggest hit for Prospect.

She slugged a homer over the left-center fence for the Knights’ run with one out in the third inning.

But Hogan gave up only 2 more hits, a single to center by Emma Meersman in the fourth and infield hit by Amy Graham in the fifth.

Hogan was also part of the Lions’ defensive gem in the fifth inning.

With a runner on first, Hogan dove for a short pop and trapped it. From her knees, she threw to second baseman Tess Kaiser covering first base. Kaiser then threw to shortstop Flasch to get the runner trying to advance to second.

“That double play took a lot of out of their sails,” Twarog said. “We’ve worked on that play with the girls. It was good to start out the season with a win.”

Hogan has already matched her one win as a freshman.

“My teammates really helped me,” said the Palatine native. “They made the plays and really encouraged me. Of course, I was a little shaky at first. But once I started to get the rhythm, it went really well.

“When Alex hit that homer, my confidence really skyrocketed.”

Prospect was without two key players, catcher Cassie Poulos and center fielder Julie Mazur.

But Lythberg kept the Knights in the game.

“After that homer, Hanna was awesome,” said Knights coach Jim Adair. “I couldn’t ask anything more of her.”

Adair had three sophomores (Michelle Korf, Meersman and Meghan Doyle) and one freshman (shortstop Ally Schuldt) in his starting lineup.

“We’re young and have a ways to go,” he said. “But I’m not terribly upset with how we played. We’ll find out more about ourselves as we go one.

“We have to do a better job hitting. We’ve never played this early in the season so it makes it harder to have everyone ready to go.”

St. Viator (1-0) will host Palatine (1-1) today at 4:30 p.m.

“I thought St. Viator played very well,” Adair added “We had them in trouble a few times but couldn’t score.”