Softball: Vernon Hills squeaks past Wauconda in sectional semifinals
No. 2-seeded Vernon Hills got on the scoreboard early and survived a scare from No. 5 Wauconda late in the semifinals of the Class 3A Antioch softball sectional Wednesday afternoon.
A home run to left field by freshman Brynne Gossett gave the Cougars a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second, and Vernon Hills (24-8-1) went on to post a 3-1 victory over the Bulldogs to advance to the sectional finals Friday against the top-seeded host Sequoits.
After Gossett's homer, Ryley Bautista singled, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Grace DeYoung, moved to third on an error, and scored on a sacrifice fly by Carolynn Bernard for a 2-0 lead after two innings.
Wauconda (18-18) committed two errors in the bottom of the fourth. Freshman winning pitcher Brooke Gossett reached base on a two-out error before she wound up scoring when junior Gianna Gossett reached base on an error for a 3-0 advantage.
“We put the ball in play enough to get on base and things happened, and I think that was the difference in the game,” said Vernon Hills coach Jan Pauly, whose team tied the Bulldogs with 5 hits each. “It was just a battle with our pitcher controlling the strike zone, and we were able to keep their first four batters off base enough to win.”
There was no more major drama scoring-wise until Wauconda sophomore Kylie Karaszewski led off the top of the seventh with a single to left field. Freshman Hailey Letto followed with a walk before a sacrifice bunt by Ashley Maxwell put runners on second and third with one out.
But the final two batters were called out on strikes on borderline calls, and the Cougars held on for the victory.
“I was very happy. Honestly I was looking for anything I could put in contact because I just needed to get on base for my team to be able to make something happen,” said Brynne Gossett, who has 3 home runs this season. “I'm really excited for Friday because I know it's going to be a really close game and I really see us coming out in the end if we all stick together and work together as a team.”
Maddie May was 2-for-3 with a double for the Bulldogs while teammate Hailey Letto and Vernon Hills junior Annie Zbylut also had doubles in the contest.
“These girls don't give up, and we knew we were going to make it interesting,” said Wauconda coach Tim Orisek, whose team lost to Vernon Hills 8-3 on March 19. “I'm going to miss this group, Vernon Hills is a really good team, and I thought Georgia (Reimers) threw a great game in the circle for us today.”