O’Neill, Lake Park catch WW South
Kelly O’Neill knew what was at stake when she stepped to the plate in the sixth inning Tuesday, only a single needed for the cycle.
“My team made me aware of that,” the Lake Park junior said with a laugh, “but I tried not to think about it.”
O’Neill grounded to first — but her bat had already done plenty of damage.
O’Neill homered in the first, doubled in the third and tripled in what proved to be the winning run in the fifth inning of No. 13 Lake Park’s come-from-behind 7-5 win over Wheaton Warrenville South in Roselle.
“I was just seeing the ball really well,” O’Neill shrugged off. “We stayed after practice yesterday and I felt good in the warmup today. The wind did help a lot, and the pitcher was the perfect speed for me.”
O’Neill hit .352 last spring as a sophomore but might not be a household name in area softball circles yet.
Lake Park coach Tom Mazzie promised she and a few others will be come May or June.
“She is as relentless as I’ve seen,” Mazzie said. “I’ve seen a lot of great hitters here, but I’ve never seen one with the bat speed that she generates. And the beauty of it is she can go to all fields. There’s not a pitch she can’t hit.”
Lake Park (1-1), which went down quietly after losing an early lead in last week’s season opener versus Glenbard North, showed more fight Tuesday.
With the wind blowing out, WW South jumped out to leads of 3-0 in the first inning and 4-1 in the second. Lake Park pulled to within 4-3 in the bottom of the second on a 2-run homer by Dena Guthrie pinch-hitting in the No. 9 spot, and an O’Neill leadoff double and Stephanie Starr run-scoring grounder in the third tied it.
Tara Palandri beat out an infield single to start the Lancers fifth, and O’Neill drilled a two-strike triple up the alley in right-center to bring in Palandri with the go-ahead run. Next up was Starr, who hit a 2-run homer — the fourth long ball of the day — off the top of the fence in left, making it 7-4. Marilyn Perry got the win for the Lancers, throwing three innings of 1-run relief.
“I was proud how we rebounded,” Mazzie said. “It’s real easy after you lose your first game and get down 3-0 to start choking yourself, but these girls stayed positive.”
WW South (2-2) had baserunners in all but one inning yet seemed to be missing one more big hit.
Cameron Briggs led off the game with a homer and Laura Foltz added a 2-run double in the first, and Briggs tacked on an RBI single in the second.
But the Tigers stranded nine runners — two each in the fourth, fifth and seventh. Trailing 7-4 in the seventh, Hannah Keating’s pop fly double in between two colliding Lake Park outfielders brought in a run to make it 7-5, and put the tying runs in scoring position with two out. The next batter popped out on the first pitch.
Briggs and Kristy Santora did have 3 hits apiece for a young Tigers team that in the early going has already beaten one ranked team — Glenbard South — and taken another, Lake Park, to the wire.
“I’m real proud how we came out today,” first-year WW South coach Jeff Pawlak said. “The way we played against these guys and the way we played against Glenbard South, it builds confidence. We can play with teams.”