Softball: Stoner, Wheaton North turn tables on Wheaton Warrenville South, advance to sectional final

Hana Stoner was a little surprised when her number was called to move up to Wheaton North’s leadoff hitter three weeks ago.

In fact, it was a little scary.

“At first I was kind of nervous – I’ve always batted closer to the bottom of the lineup," the Wheaton North senior said. “But after I did pretty well I got better and confident.”

It turns out, Stoner was just the spark the Falcons needed.

She singled to start Wheaton North’s scoring rallies in the first and third innings off Wheaton Warrenville South ace Presley Wright.

The Falcons went on to a 4-1 win in Thursday’s Class 4A Oswego Sectional semifinal, turning the tables on two regular-season losses to the Tigers.

Second-seeded Wheaton North (24-8), in a sectional final for the second straight year, will play No. 1 seed Oswego at 4 p.m. Friday in a rematch of last year’s sectional final.

Wright and WW South (21-11) twice shut out Wheaton North 1-0 in a six-day stretch in May. The second time, on May 14, was the Falcons’ fifth loss in seven games.

After that, Wheaton North coach Allie Ravanesi moved Stoner from fifth to leadoff.

“She was consistently getting on base for us,” Ravanesi said. “We needed to change something up. We looked at our stats and looked at who was hitting the ball and who wasn’t.”

Indeed, Stoner had three hits and a walk against Wright in the two regular-season games. She actually hit leadoff for six games in March, and has a .390 on-base percentage for the season. Wheaton North is 5-1 since the lineup switch.

“She battles,” Ravanesi said. “She puts the ball in play for us and that is what we need. You are not going to see her strike out too much. She will put the ball in play and make things happen.”

Self-described as “not a big role player” on last year’s sectional final team, Stoner may have been surprised at her move up. She wasn’t quite as surprised that she could hit Wright.

“I played travel ball with Presley, hit off her a lot,” Stoner said. “I did well the first game off her and kept the same approach.”

The Falcons didn’t exactly solve Wright, with four hits. But they made the most of their chances.

Stoner singled and scored on a Makayla Hammer sacrifice fly in the first, and singled and came around to score on a throwing error in the third for a 2-0 lead.

In the middle of both rallies, Wheaton North’s Reagan Crosthwaite – the program’s career and single-season home run record holder – drew two tough walks on full counts.

“I’m just trying to go up there and have a battle every single time I’m going to the plate,” Crosthwaite said. “Third time seeing her, we know what she’s throwing. We had to figure out how to put the ball in play and manufacture lines.”

They did again in the fifth – with some good fortune. Crosthwaite reached on a bad-hop infield hit, and Abby Del Preto followed with an RBI triple just fair inside the right field line. Another Hammer sacrifice fly made it 4-1.

“They had runners on more often than we did; we had to make some plays,” WW South coach Jeff Pawlak said. “It didn’t help when we didn’t get the bad bounce. We didn’t put as many balls in play as I hoped we would and they did.”

Wheaton North pitcher Hannah Wulf only struck out four, scattering four hits. But she coaxed contact in the right direction.

The Tigers hit seven ground balls to Crosthwaite at shortstop, including an inning-ender by Wright with two on in the fifth trailing 2-1.

“Facing a team three times I knew they would hit the ball eventually,” Wulf said. “I really trusted my defense and leaned on Reagan today to produce some ground balls for her.”

Wright struck out five, and also accounted for WW South’s only run with a solo homer leading off the fourth.

“Presley has been awesome all year,” Pawlak said. “The kid is just a fighter, been dealing with tendinitis all year. Three years ago she put one out to left to go to a sectional final. She plays well here.”

Wright is one of six WW South seniors graduating from a third straight regional champion.

“I’m beyond proud,” Pawlak said. “Being honest I didn’t expect us to have as good of a season as we had. Testament to them.”

The Falcons, meanwhile, get another shot at Oswego. The Panthers last year beat Wheaton North 1-0 in extra innings.

Oswego also beat Wheaton North 14-12 in April, a game in which the Panthers hit four consecutive homers in a six-run seventh.

Neither’s team’s ace, Wulf or Oswego’s Jaelynn Anthony, started that game.

“They’re a very good ball team,” Ravanesi said. “We’re going to look to play our game, fight like hell to do what we do and we’ll see what happens.”