Softball: IC Catholic Prep rolls to third straight sectional crown
If two schools with the nickname Knights competing in the Class 2A IC Catholic Prep softball sectional final wasn’t confusing enough, try ICCP not being the home team on its own field Saturday at Plunkett Park in Elmhurst.
Since both ICCP and Chicago Christian were No. 1 seeds in the subsectional put out by the IHSA, Chicago Christian got to call the coin flip to determine the home team for the championship.
Chicago Christian won the coin flip, but ICCP won its third consecutive sectional title and seventh in program history with a 7-0 victory.
IC Catholic now will look for its first supersectional when it faces Stillman Valley at 4:30 p.m. Monday at Benedictine University.
“Anybody can win one game,” said ICCP coach Frank Reaber. “So we've been here before. We just haven't finished. And hopefully, we finish Monday.”
IC Catholic (29-5), playing its final game of the season on its newly renovated field, got a complete-game shutout from senior pitcher Maddy Dinino. She struck out 11 batters while allowing four hits.
After Dinino fanned the first two batters in the fourth inning, Chicago Christian (16-9) loaded the bases on a single, its lone walk and an error. Dinino escaped the jam by striking out Holland Winthrop, beginning a string in which she retired the final 10 hitters, ending with Winthrop grounding out to short.
“I knew what batter was up, and I knew what she liked and didn't like,” Dinino said about the end of the fourth. “So I knew how to work around her and so that we could get the play and get the out.”
ICCP loaded the bases twice in the first against Chicago Christian pitcher Alivia Hovanec before scoring three runs on an error, a Leilani Mendez RBI single and a fielder’s choice by Lexi Hoffman.
“I feel like all of our energies are really up there,” said freshman Sophia Deoudes, who doubled and scored during the first. “And it just makes us all better as a team.”
Sofia Bucaro walked to begin the second and was replaced by pinch runner Ari Zito, ICCP’s usual leadoff hitter who was coming off breaking a bone in her hand two games earlier. Although she didn’t add to her more than 50 stolen bases this season, she moved up two bases on a passed ball before Deoudes scored her on an RBI single.
Dinino led off the fifth with a single, then moved to second on a wild pitch. After Mendez walked, they both executed a double steal, and Dinino scored on an errant throw on the play. Mendez promptly scored on Hoffman’s RBI groundout to short.
Mendez walked to lead off the seventh and was pinch run for by sophomore Jaida Cervantes, who eventually came around for the final run. Freshman Ari Vega and sophomore Ema McMillen both had singles in the inning for ICCP’s final hits.