Softball: Burlington Central throws out Rosary
Kristina Ahlers didn't have time to think. She just let her instincts and talent take over.
Ahlers, Burlington Central's shortstop, took a relay throw from left fielder Sarah Kinney and fired a perfect strike to catcher Kelly Wiater to nail Rosary's Xandria Olsen trying for a game-tying inside-the-park home run in the bottom of the seventh inning.
The dramatic out at the plate enabled Burlington Central to hold on for a 4-3 victory at the seventh annual Fox Valley tournament at Stuart Sports Complex in Aurora.
"I'm not going to lie, I wasn't really thinking when I made that throw," Ahlers said. "I knew I had to get her and I just did it without thinking. I think that's why the throw was good because there was nothing in my head to make me nervous."
Burlington Central (9-2) advances to the semifinals at 11:30 a.m. Saturday against West Aurora (8-0).
Rosary (3-8) nearly played spoiler. Trailing 4-2 going to the last of the seventh, Ries McCue reached on a 1-out infield single.
Olsen followed with her laser to left field that got past Kinney down the left-field line. McCue scored and Olsen was racing around the bases as Kinney hustled after the ball and fired back into Ahlers who relayed to Wiater to get Olsen on a bang-bang play at the plate.
"That literally was picture perfect," Burlington Central coach Erica Maisto said. "That's how it needs to be done. We needed two good throws. Kristina has a cannon and Kelly just squared up perfectly."
"We had our fastest runner on base," Rosary coach Megan Tracy said. "It just didn't fall our way. It was a bang-bang and tip your hat off to them for getting it done."
Ahlers also had a big day at the plate going 3-for-4 including a 2-run homer in the first inning, her second this year after hitting 6 last year.
"My first at-bat, I was early so I told myself to relax," Ahlers said. "Waiting back was the biggest thing."
Starting pitchers Ashley Ratliff and Emma Molenhouse settled in with goose eggs from the second through the fourth innings. Burlington Central extended to a 4-1 lead in the fifth on a triple from Emily Kisch, Wiater's RBI single and a sacrifice fly from Danielle Yurgil.
Wiater (2-for-4, 2 runs) joined Ahlers as the only players with multi-hit games.
Ratliff earned the win for the Rockets, improving to 3-0 with 6 strikeouts and just 1 earned run allowed.
"We're trying to incorporate her a little more," Maisto said. "We're still working on our defense. I was glad to see we came out strong and swinging right away."
Tracy also was pleased with Molenhouse's work in the circle. The Royals will play Kaneland on Saturday.
"Emma is always our warrior," Tracy said. "This is the best she's pitched all week. She hit her spots and I was very happy with Emma.
"We've been struggling this past week not playing solid defense or not hitting. We put it all together today. They hit hard ground balls, hard line drives, that's something we have to do. They made their adjustments. They did fantastic."