LaBeck, Allan spark Hoffman past Larkin
Part of Nicole LaBeck’s mind may have been elsewhere Monday but the Hoffman Estates junior leadoff hitter made sure her bat was all there.
LaBeck’s 2-run double in the bottom of the third inning, and the clutch pitching of freshman Charlotte Allan helped the Hawks to a 4-0 win over Larkin in the play-in game of the Class 4A Hoffman Estates softball regional.
No. 16 seed Hoffman (6-24) will face top-seeded Conant at 4:30 p.m. today in the semifinals.
LaBeck’s father, Jim, was undergoing his second back surgery in a year Monday, preventing he and Nicole’s mother Laurie from attending the game. With her dad on her mind, LaBeck knew she had to do something important in the regional opener.
“I definitely went up there thinking I had to do this for my dad because he couldn’t be here,” LaBeck said. “I wanted to make him proud.”
Jim LaBeck would have smiled from ear-to-ear with his daughter’s 2-for-3 performance that included a second double in the fourth inning as well as a flawless defensive day at second base.
“We moved Nicole up to the first spot 5-6 games ago and she’s doing a great job of being an igniter for team,” said Hoffman coach Lindsay Hamma.
Junior Heather Bartoszewski started the Hawks’ rally, leading the bottom of the third off with a single up the middle. A Larkin error on Kajal Ealal’s sacrifice bunt put runners at second and third and LaBeck’s shot to right-center scored both to give Allan and the Hawks all the runs they would need.
“I was just looking to get a basehit,” LaBeck said. “I just wanted to get myself on.”
LaBeck moved to third on Sam Acosta’s single and scored on a Kaileen Hendle single. Hendle then scored the fourth run of the inning on a Larkin error.
From there it was all Allan, who worked out of a bases-loaded jam with two outs in the first, second and third with one out in the second and bases loaded with no outs in the third. Once her team gave her a lead, Allan was lights out on Larkin, allowing just 2 hits after the third inning. For the game she struck out 8 and didn’t walk a batter.
“I needed to get outs and trust my teammates and let them help me get outs,” Allan said of the early jams she pitched out of.
“She plays beyond her years,” said Hamma of her rookie pitcher. “She’s got the best poker face I’ve seen. When she stays within herself and trusts her defense she can be really effective. Her screwball was working really well today.”
Junior Alex Buhrow and senior Aida DeLaFuente each had 2 hits for the Royals, who said good bye to eight seniors after struggling through a 3-30 season. Kiernan Schock took the loss in the circle.
“That’s the story of the 2012 Larkin Royals,” said first-year Larkin coach Anne Vogt. “One bad inning.”
Despite the loss and tough season, Vogt was upbeat.
“I’m so proud of these guys,” she said. “Every day they’ve had to come back from being knocked down and they’ve done a great job of staying positive. They got better, they learned and they became better people and that’s what it’s all about.”