Glenbard North stops York’s streak

Thirteen had truly been a lucky number for York.

But the Dukes’ string of softball upsets came to an end on Wednesday afternoon as Glenbard North, the top seed of the Class 4A Lake Park sectional, used timely hitting and another gem from Purdue-bound senior southpaw Lilly Fecho to end the No. 13 Dukes’ season.

With the 5-1 victory in Roselle, the Panthers’ first sectional semifinal win in seven years, Glenbard North (34-2) advances to face either second-seeded Bartlett (28-8) or No. 11 West Chicago (24-12) Saturday morning.

York had its campaign end at 18-19.

The Dukes opened the scoring in the second inning when the Panthers’ infield muffed a two-out, bases-loaded grounder, enabling freshman Sarah Milkowski to score. But York promptly multiplied the number of gift runs by two in the Panthers’ half; Heather Speriazzo, Kelsey Muller and Alexis Simone had consecutive basehits, and the former two plus Ashley Stiver — aboard via a dropped infield pop — all made daring base-running plays to advance during the two-run inning.

“That’s the name of the game — putting pressure on the defense,” Glenbard North coach Josh Sanew said.

“We got behind early but came back and attacked right away,” said Fecho, who scattered 5 hits while striking out nine and walking none. “Getting the momentum back right away was awesome.”

Fecho (27-2) and batterymate Simone were attuned over the next five innings; Simone not only had the game-winning RBI in the second but also made a sterling defensive play — a diving catch in foul territory — to end the Dukes’ fifth.

“I think that we had a good mesh (of pitches),” the Wisconsin-Parkside recruit Simone said. “We have been together for three years now. I just wanted a basehit (in the Panthers’ two-run second).”

But York starting right-hander Tessa Kroll was equally stingy against the Panthers in the middle portion of the game. The Dukes’ senior pitched three consecutive hitless innings, including needing only four pitches to retire the Panthers in order in the third.

“We knew it was going to be a tough game,” said York coach Drew McGuire, whose squad stunned Lake Park and Hinsdale South to reach the Lancers’ sectional. “Obviously, (Fecho) is a great pitcher.”

The Panthers put the game away in the their half of the sixth as the first five players to bat — Fecho, Sydney Benz, Stephanie Campos, Stiver and Speriazzo — had basehits in succession to account for the final 3 runs.

“I thought we did a great job of timely hitting,” said Sanew, whose club had all 8 of its hits in succession in the second and sixth innings.

“We got beat by a good team,” McGuire said.