Glenbard East keeps those uniforms ready
Glenbard East’s girls can keep the dress clothes in the closet tonight.
The Rams still have softball to play.
No. 16 seed Glenbard East made sure of it Monday, turning the tables on two regular-season losses to No. 17 Wheaton North with a 10-1 win in a Class 4A St. Charles North regional first-round game in Lombard. The Rams (10-25) move on to play top seed Glenbard North today in St. Charles.
“This day means a lot to us,” Rams coach Val Pinzker said. “Tomorrow is our awards night. We always like to still be playing and come back dirty so we don’t have to dress up. So it’s nice to still be playing.”
The Rams’ offense seems to be peaking at the right time. Glenbard East scored 8 runs last Monday against Wheaton Warrenville South, and 12 on Saturday against Willowbrook. Each of the first eight batters in the lineup reached base at some point Monday.
“I’ve been waiting for the kids to get the bats going,” Pinzker said. “We’re definitely a different team than we were a month ago. We only have two seniors but we’re definitely growing.”
Glenbard East dropped a pair of 1-run games to Wheaton North in DVC play, but broke out in the third inning Monday. Alissa Mogavero and Megan Cotterill singles started the rally, and Kara Tadda sliced an opposite-field double to right to bring both home. Alyssa Haught later lined an RBI single to center.
When the dust cleared, the Rams had batted around and led 5-0.
“I feel like everybody gets pumped up after one big hit and nobody wants to be the one who stops it,” Tadda said. “That inning, we just kept going and going.”
Wheaton North (8-25) didn’t help its cause any in the inning, 2 runs scoring on one play by virtue of a wild pitch and an errant throw back home. In the fifth the Falcons drew within 5-1 on Tiffany Gaimari’s two-out RBI single, but the Falcons promptly had a runner picked off second to kill any further rally.
“That’s a problem we’ve had all year — we get runners on but then we make baserunning mistakes,” Falcons coach Karen Calabrese said. “The problem is we’re still making the same mistakes we did Day 1. Not talking, not having good pitch selection, not throwing the ball over the plate (seven walks). You throw in a couple errors and it all adds up real quick. It was a tight game, but things kind of unraveled that (third) inning.”
Angela Greco’s three-run double in the bottom of the sixth capped off Glenbard East’s scoring. Tadda and Brittany Plimmer both had 2 hits. Rams starting pitcher Jill Kernats allowed baserunners in all but one inning, but minimized the damage.
“I have a lot of confidence in my defense behind me,” Kernats said. “I allowed them to get the easy hits and I let the defense make the plays. And they came through for me.”
A date with top-ranked Glenbard North is a daunting challenge, but Pinzker welcomes the opportunity.
“We’re going to go out, play our hardest and play every game like it’s our last,” she said. “We’ve been saying that all season.”