Softball: St. Francis advances to sectional final
St. Francis has come close a few times, but the Spartans haven't won a softball sectional championship since 2005, back when there were only two classes for the IHSA playoffs.
Could this be their year?
The Spartans (26-3) gave themselves a chance Wednesday with a 3-0 semifinal victory against Trinity in Lisle. The top-seeded Spartans will play either No. 2 Fenwick or No. 3 Glenbard South. The final will be played Friday or Saturday, depending in part on Thursday's weather.
"We're really excited. We're practicing and really playing well as a team, and we're excited to see how far we can go," Spartans pitcher Carlee Jo Clark said.
The Spartans got off to an uneven start, scoring a run - Bridget Rath touching the plate safely on catcher Caroline Caesar's single to left - but they had two runners thrown out at home.
If it bothered the Spartans to see two runners thrown out at home, they shook it off for the second inning.
"It was maybe a little bit concerning, but I think that we realized we could hit their pitcher. We were confident in ourselves," Clark said.
St. Francis made it 3-0 in the second. Kelly Griffin scored from third on the only error of the game, and leadoff hitter Kristina Sherwin drove in Riley Banigan.
Nobody was more relieved to see those extra 2 runs score than St. Francis coach Ralph Remus.
"It threw me off," Remus said. "I told them they should replace the third-base coach. Thank God. If we hadn't scored those I probably would've been six months before I forgave myself."
That was all Clark (21-2) needed. She didn't allow a Trinity baserunner past second and struck out 11 Trinity batters, though it didn't seem like it.
"Not really," she said. "I just kind of take it one inning at a time, one pitch at a time."
"When her changeup's on it's just hard to time a pitch," coach Ralph Remus added, "because it gets in your head, do I have to be ready for the fastball, or am I going to look silly with the changeup? So it's been a big pitch for her."