Glenbard South 3, Montini 0

At 2:45 p.m. on Wednesday, Glenbard South softball coach Julie Fonda rushed to open the team batting cage for 3 p.m. practice before the team hosted a Class 3A sectional semifinal against Montini.

She was too late. Her players already were taking their cuts.

Then the Raiders went and scratched out a 3-0 victory over the Broncos in Glen Ellyn behind Jill Trzaska's 1-hitter.

"We've been working really hard, and it's one of our goals to make it all the way downstate," Trzaska said. "Everyone has the drive on the team, and I know everyone's going to be working as hard as they can and playing with everything."

Trzaska didn't have her best stuff, and she and Fonda both felt the strike zone looked a little small -- "Sometimes you get it, sometimes you don't," Trzaska said -- but the senior pitcher still struck out eight, walking two.

The lone hit came in the sixth inning, a bloop single to right field by second baseman Jenna Mahoney. Mary Fischer sacrificed Mahoney to second base, but Mahoney was stranded there.

"It's just like playing David and Goliath," Montini coach Tom Blackwell said of facing the Raiders. "You've got a school that's almost double your population."

The Raiders (26-6) scored their first run in the bottom of the second inning, which senior Emily Braem led off with a walk. Sacrificed to second base by Kristin Grossman, Braem scored on Robin Borowski's single.

"We executed," Fonda said of the Raiders' small-ball game. "We work on that quite a bit, and when they're asked to do it they do a nice job of getting it done."

Braem also scored the Raiders' second run, this one in the fourth inning after reaching base on an infield error, then going to second base when a pickoff throw went wild. She scored on Trzaska's bunt single.

"I knew we had to get the runner in because we were only up 1-0 at the time, and you like that extra comfort," Trzaska said. "I knew I had to get it down and put it in play somewhere."

No. 9 hitter Amanda Straka scored the third run, singling to left field to open the sixth inning, moving to second on an error, to third on Lauren Podgorski's sacrifice bunt and scoring on Nikki Simpson's bunt single.

"I'm proud of the kids. They've done a lot," Blackwell said of his Broncos (14-13). "This is the No. 1 seed, and I knew this would be tough."

The Raiders will host the sectional final at 11 a.m. Saturday against the winner of today's game between Riverside-Brookfield and Evergreen Park. The Raiders will be there today scouting.

"Yes," Trzaska said, "after practice."