Softball: Elk Grove snaps skid behind Andrade’s shutout
Coming off a three-game losing streak in Mid-Suburban League East play, the Elk Grove softball team found its winning groove on Friday in Mt. Prospect.
And the Grenadiers (10-11, 7-7) did it against a Prospect team (21-8, 10-5) that was tied for first in the East.
EG senior right-hander Bella Andrade limited host Prospect to 3 hits in 6 innings and shut out the Knights 2-0 in Mt. Prospect. The game was called in the top of the seventh due to adverse weather.
Hersey (17-7, 11-4)) defeated Wheeling to take sole possession of first place in the East and hosts Prospect on Monday with a divisional title on the line.
Andrade struck out three and also had a key sacrifice bunt in the fifth inning which led to an insurance run.
"She was throwing so well," said Grenadiers senior receiver Maria Smith, who had one of the Grens' 5 hits. "Her pitches were hitting the perfect spots.
"We've been in a bit of a slump but I think we got out of it. We made adjustments at the plate because we had started to spiral and now this gives the whole team a boost and it's perfect timing with the postseason coming up."
Elk Grove hall of fame coach Ken Grams was in full agreement.
"We've been struggling with some spots and mistakes we've been making," he said after winning career victory number 1,052, the most by any coach in IHSA state softball history. “Hopefully this is a springboard to pulling that all together again."
The Grens pulled in the only run they would need in the top of the second inning when Haley Willis led off with a walk.
Aliya Garcia reached on an infield error and Hannah Kugelberg (2-for-3) singled to left to load the bases with no outs.
After two strikeouts by Lina Calvacca, sophomore Kaylee Romanski came up with the big hit between shortstop and second, scoring Willis for the game-winning RBI.
Calvacca prevented further damage by getting her third strikeout of the inning and finishing with 11 for the game.
"LIna pitched a nice game," said Prospect coach Krystina Mackowaick.
"Kaylee (Romanski) can only bat because of an injury," Grams said. "That was a key hit by her and then Bella (Andrade) had a key sacrifice bunt which helped us get the second run."
The second run came in the top of the fifth when senior Aliya Garcia led off with a walk. Kugelberg came through with her second straight hit before Andrade's big bunt got Garcia to third base.
That set up Katie Wirtz' RBI groundout to second for the 2-0 lead.
The Knights had the bases loaded with two outs in the sixth but Andrade escaped with a pop to senior shortstop Katie Wirtz.
Wirtz' sister JJ, a freshman switch hitter, also had a hit for EG along with Willis.
In the bottom of the sixth Molly Behna drew a one-out walk for Prospect but Andrade got a nice catch from Aubrey McHorney on a fast-dropping liner by Kaylin Tourtelot followed by another nice catch by second baseman Kugelberg (2-for-3) while running quickly to her left to take away a hit from Gabby Dilan.
Prospect's hits were by Gina Falls, Gianna Catanzano and Liz Aicher in three different innings.
"We just didn't have our normal offensive mojo energy to get something going," said Mackowiack. "They got a couple of clutch hits when they had runners on base and we didn't."