Softball: Hampshire upends Dundee-Crown
When Hampshire's bats get going, not much can stop the Whip-Purs.
On Thursday, with a frigid wind whipping out toward left field, the Whip' bats were tough to stop.
Delaney Rummell slugged 2 doubles and a home run and Jasmine Lopez shut down Dundee-Crown over the final 4 innings as Hampshire pulled out a 7-5 win in Fox Valley Conference softball action in Hampshire.
Andrea Conway had 3 doubles for D-C. Deanna Origer added a homer and a double, and Kayla Sjodin also homered for the Chargers.
The Chargers scored 3 times in the third to take a 5-2 lead. But the Whips answered with 4 in the bottom half to take the lead for good.
Rummell led off with a walk and eventually scored on an error. After Hampshire (14-7, 7-4) loaded the bases, Morgan Haefling cleared them with a line shot to center field that went for a double.
Rummell added a solo homer in the fifth.
Meanwhile, Lopez held the Chargers (12-8, 4-5) to a walk and 4 hits over the final 4 innings. With runners on second and third and 1 out in the fifth, she got 2 strikeouts to get out of the inning.
"Even when we get down in the first inning we don't give up," said Hampshire coach Kelly Wasilewski. "We fight back, we fight through it. It doesn't matter if we get down 3, 4, even 5 runs, they know it's a long game, so they've got a lot of chances. They definitely have a lot of confidence in what they're doing up there at the plate and the way we run our offense."
Rummell also stole a base and scored 3 times.
"Each time I go up to the plate, I get more and more confident as I just keep getting in my rhythm before it," said Rummell, the Whip-Purs' sophomore leadoff hitter who is verbally committed to Illinois. "I just know what to expect from (D-C's) Sydney (Ruggles) and all the pitchers before I go up there and I'm just looking for my pitch to drive."
Lopez took over to start the third. She gave up 3 runs in that frame before settling down.
"I started off struggling a little bit, but my defense had my back the whole entire time," she said. "I was just getting used to all my pitches and how they were hitting everything."
Origer's high drive to left field put the Chargers ahead in the first. Hampshire took the lead with 2 in the bottom half, thanks to doubles by Rummell and Peyton DeChant and a run-scoring single by Sarah Bowen.
Sjodin's high drive to left tied it in the second. The Chargers then took the lead in the third. Back-to-back rbi doubles by Origer and Conway, and an RBI fielder's choice by Ruggles accounted for the Chargers' runs. But it wasn't enough.
"We've played (Hampshire) three times now and it's come down to a couple of runs," said Chargers coach Tracy Beatty. "So we know that every time we walk on the field, every single run is going to be crucial, every play is crucial, so you've got to make the plays, you've got to push the runs, and the team that does that comes out on top. That's just how it is."
The two teams played Saturday, in much better conditions, at Larkin Slugfest, with the Chargers winning a pitchers' duel, 2-1, to advance to the title game.