Softball: Willowbrook keeps winning in Gold, tops Addison Trail
It was not prime softball weather Friday afternoon. It was as if Mother Nature stuck her tongue out at the Addison Trail field. It was cold, the wind blew in and there was a light rain most of the game which got heavier late.
However, sunlight somehow found the pitching and hitting of visiting Willowbrook and the Warriors went home 11-1.
The win improved Willowbrook to 10-6 overall and 5-1 in the West Suburban Gold with the Warriors trailing just Downers Grove South in the standings.
"(The Blazers) are our district rivals and both teams are naturally up for it," said Willowbrook coach Rachel Karos. "We finally started putting the bat on the ball and finding holes to put it through."
The Warriors had just three hits during the first three innings but finished with nine. Willowbrook took a 2-0 lead in the first.
With one out Ree Knudtson singled to center. A fielding error put Katie Smith on base. A wild pitch later brought Knudtson home and another fielding error scored Smith.
The Warriors' bats were at their best in the fourth inning with all four runs and three hits coming with two outs. Katie Pettinger started things off with a walk. Later, Knudtson reached on an infield hit. Starting pitcher Caroline Dooley then doubled to score Pettinger and Knudtson. Smith, the next batter, smashed a 2-run homer.
With the wind the way it was, hitters held no pretensions of getting a big hit easily.
"I didn't think it would go that far. I thought it would be stopped or caught," Dooley said of her double.
She got the complete-game victory in the circle, allowing just three hits and striking out 10. Dooley said she made no pitching adjustments on account of the weather.
"I just pitched like I normally pitched," she said.
The Warriors were not done scoring. Willowbrook touched home plate for five runs in the seventh. Some solid baserunning that turned into stolen bases and Samantha Mishlove's 2-run triple were crucial to the effort.
The big blast for Addison Trail (6-7-1, 0-5) came courtesy of leadoff hitter Sophia Hawkins in the first inning as she tripled to the right-field corner.
Although the Blazers had just three hits, they were only sent down in order just one inning. But they stranded 10 runners.
"Their pitcher did a good job and that's 90 percent of softball if a pitcher throws well," said Addison Trail coach Mark Olson. "We didn't execute."
In the West Suburban Gold race Willowbrook and Downers Grove South meet one more time in the regular season on May 7 at Willowbrook.