Softball: WW South takes advantage of big opportunity vs. Waubonsie Valley
Wheaton Warrenville South showed its situational hitting skills Tuesday against visiting Waubonsie Valley.
The Tigers (9-1) scored five runs on five hits in the second inning, all with two outs, en route to a 7-0 nonconference victory over the Warriors (0-5).
"We talk a ton about situational hitting," said WW South coach Jeff Pawlak. "We started out real well with that at the start of the season, but the last couple of games we haven't been doing well with it."
WW South leadoff hitter Abby Struebing came to the plate in the second with two outs. She reached on a fielding error. She scored on Lauren Tully's double to make it 3-0. It was the first of three doubles by the Tigers in the inning.
Kaitlyn Bresingham's double to left scored Tully for Bresingham's second of two RBI on the day.
The inning continued when Francesca Lang walked and moved to third on Katie Weisheit's single to center that brought Bresingham home.
Carly Briggs then hit the final double of the inning, which scored Lang and Weisheit. Briggs finished the game with 3 RBI.
"You have to think it's now or never and put everything into it," Briggs said of the two-out mindset. "Once we were in the groove, we kept going."
The Tigers made it 2-0 in the first. Struebing led off with a walk and eventually came home on Bresingham's groundball. Briggs' two-out single to center scored Lang, who had also singled.
Briggs said WW South is enjoying it's strong start.
"It's a fun group. We have hard practices, but we have fun and we mesh well," she said.
The winning pitcher was Katie Pierce. She struck out three in the complete-game victory.
"Our pitching has been pretty good and that has to continue. But we have to hit better. We have seven returning starters and we have to do better offensively to help the pitchers out," Pawlak said.
As for Waubonsie Valley, there were signs the young team is not that far away from putting some weight on its win column. It's a squad of talent but in need of varsity experience.
The Warriors finished with six hits, although they stranded eight, but both are signs that they are capable of getting scoring chances.
Relief pitcher Emily Olson allowed just one hit in four innings of work.
"We're right there. We're close to getting over the hurdle. We're still really young. It was that way last year and it will be this year," said coach Val Wood. "We're getting hits, we're figuring out plays and the pitching is coming along. We just need to work out some kinks."
Waubonsie had runners on base in all but two innings. Delaney Summers doubled to left in the second for the Warriors' biggest hit of the afternoon. The team loaded the bases in the fourth inning. In that inning Summers and Avery Hickey walked and Natalie Rivera reached on an infield hit thanks to a very well-placed groundball.