Burlington Central sweeps Libertyville
The pressure was on, but that’s when Burlington Central freshman Angie Morrow says she performs the best.
After letting a 2-run lead go in the top of the seventh by allowing a game-tying triple with one out, Morrow struck out Libertyville’s next two batters to leave the go-ahead run stranded at third. Then she came up in the bottom of the seventh with one out and the winning run at third and delivered the game-winning hit, a “Rocket” shot down the third base line that scored Bekah Harnish and lifted the Rockets to a 5-4 win and a doubleheader sweep of the Wildcats on Rocket Hill.
Brooke Gaylord picked up the complete-game win in Game 1 as BC prevailed 3-2.
“I definitely do better under pressure,” said Morrow, who struck out 12, walked 3 and allowed 7 hits in the complete-game win. “I knew I had to put the ball in play and not pop it up.”
As gratifying as the two 1-run wins were to the Rockets, who won 3 of 4 this week, they were equally frustrating to Libertyville and first-year coach Elissa Wisniewski, whose team fell to 1-5 and has lost 4 games after taking a lead into the seventh or gaining it in the final inning.
“We need to execute at the end,” said Wisniewski. “We’ve come a long way since day one and we’re doing a lot of good things but we have to clean up the little things that are the difference between winning and losing so far.”
In Game 1, the Rockets (9-5) scored all the runs they would need in the third inning. Morrow tripled and scored on Kassie Gaylord’s groundout and after Wildcat sophomore Becky Schreiber got the next two batters out, Cortni Neubauer and Haley Albamonte singled then came home on Harnish’s double.
Margaret Haws had given Libertyville a 1-0 lead with an RBI single in the top of the third and Haley Hoeksel walked and scored on an error in the fourth for Libertyville’s runs.
Brooke Gaylord struck out five and walked three to earn the win. Schreiber had 7 strikeouts and 1 walk in suffering the loss.
Burlington Central took a 1-0 lead in the first inning of Game 2, Sarah Kisch’s single driving home Harnish (3-for-3), wo had also singled.
Libertyville again took a lead, this time at 2-1 in the third when Taylor Obuman tripled and scored on Maggie Meyer’s squeeze bunt that turned into a throwing error, allowing Meyer to go to second. She took third and scored on a passed ball to give the Wildcats a 2-1 lead. Burlington tied it again in the bottom of the inning when Kisch drove in Harnish, who had singled again.
The Wildcats then took a 4-2 lead in the top of the seventh. Nicole Kruckman stroked a one-out single to left, stole second and Kallie Kapuzny was hit by a pitch. Haws then ripped a triple to right-center to score both runners.
Sophomore Haley Alban, pitching in relief of senior Emilie Teitz, ran into control problems in the bottom of the seventh, walking four. Neubauer, who walked, eventually scored on a wild pitch to make it a 4-3 game. Albamonte dropped a windblown single into right and scored the tying run on Brooke Gaylord’s bases-loaded walk. And Harnish, who walked, scored the winning run on Morrow’s shot down the line.
“If the kids stay resilient and continue to get stronger mentally when things go against us we can keep winning,” said BC coach Cray Allen, whose team opens Big Northern East play at home Tuesday against defending conference and state Class 3A champ Marengo. “I didn’t see anyone looking for excuses when we had a call go against us and that’s growing and being competitive.”
That mindset is what Wisniewski is striving for with her Wildcats.
“Right now we’re trying to change the mentality,” she said. “We’re trying to implement more of a team mentality. Now we have to take that next step in the last inning and buckle down mentally.”