West Aurora rallies by Bartlett
Sophomore pitcher Hannah Beatus let out a long sigh before talking about West Aurora's 4-3 victory over Bartlett Tuesday that kept her team in the Upstate Eight Conference Valley Division lead.
"They are a good hitting team," Beatus said. "They go up hacking every single at-bat. They are a hard team to pitch around. I thought our defense did really good too, that helped out a lot."
The Hawks (16-9-1, 9-7) certainly made the Blackhawks (21-7, 14-3) work for the win.
Lauren Janczak staked her team to an early 2-0 lead with a 2-run home run in the top of the third.
Trailing 3-2 in the sixth, Danielle Kirby laced a 2-out RBI single up the middle to tie the game at 3.
But after playing a clean game for 6 innings, the Hawks made a critical error in the bottom of the seventh.
Corey McCreedy singled to start the inning and took second when Beatus bunted for a hit. Cara Jimenez, who had hit the ball hard all day, dropped a single into shallow center in front of a Hawks outfield playing deep.
Beatus was going to hold at third on the play, but when the throw got away from the catcher, Beatus hustled home with the winning run.
"I thought we played solid defense that last play not withstanding," Bartlett coach Jim Wolfsmith said. "We talk about communication. That's a whole team thing. We have to know that girl wasn't coming home. That ball can be held, tossed in soft, we go to the next batter."
The win keeps West Aurora a game ahead of Waubonsie Valley in the conference race. The teams play Saturday, one of 6 conference games the Blackhawks have remaining as they chase a conference title in their first year back in the Upstate Eight.
"This is playoff softball," West Aurora coach Randy Hayslett said. "This is what you expect when you are playing for a conference championship. Girls were a little nervous but these are the type of games we are going to have. Well-played game both sides."
Trailing 2-0, the Blackhawks scored three times in the bottom of the third. Jessica Vargas doubled, McCreedy reached on an infield single, and Taylor Podschweit laced an RBI double down the right-field line. Jimenez then put the Blackhawks up 3-2 with a 2-run double to the left-field gap.
Podschweit, Jimenez and McCreedy all had 2 hits for the Blackhawks.
"I didn't want to take a lot of pitches so I kind of went for that first pitch," Jimenez said. "Being more aggressive is something I need to work on and I did that today."
Beatus finished with 11 strikeouts, pitching around 8 hits and 4 walks as Bartlett kept the pressure on all game.
"We were kind of struggling at the beginning of the game getting our corners called but I think (catcher) Carly (Frauenhoff) adjusted really well behind the plate so that helped."
The 1-run loss was nothing new for Bartlett who has now lost 9 games by 13 runs.
Hawks leadoff hitter Katie Fornoff reached base all 4 times with 3 singles and a walk. Kirby relieved Amber Pagan with 1 out in the third and pitched the rest of the way.
"We hit the ball well," Wolfsmith said. "I like what we did, we battled, hopefully we carry that momentum the rest of the week."