Valles tastes victory as Maine West dumps Meadows

Maine West freshman Ariel Valles made her first varsity pitching start Monday at Rolling Meadows.

The rookie right-hander accomplished what her cousin Emily Ott did so often in the past decade for Maine West softball - get a win.

Valles went the first 62/3 innings to get the victory in the Warriors' 6-4 nonconference win.

Sophomore Alyssa Bojarski came on to pick up the save in the final 11/3 innings as West improved to 2-7.

The 5-foot-9 Valles was 3-0 pitching for coach Laura Rothstein's junior varsity team before recently joining the varsity.

"This was a lot of fun," said Valles, whose cousin is a former high school all-stater who won 42 games at West and now plays for Missouri-Kansas City. "I felt right at home on the mound. She (Ott) always taught me you can't let one big inning rattle you. I learned a lot from her."

"Ariel throws strikes and she's pretty quick," said Maine West coach Mike Murin. "Then Alyssa did a real nice job to pick up the save. She showed a lot of poise at the end."

Valles (2-for-4, walk), batting in the No. 2 spot, gave her team a 1-0 lead in the second inning when she singled to center with two outs to drive in junior Colleen Finnander, who had a one-out single to left.

In the third, Finnander (2-for-3) ripped a two-out 2-run single down the right-field line and Valles added a bases-loaded walk for a 4-0 lead.

The Warriors went ahead 5-0 in the sixth when Allie Ellwood (2-for-4) belted an RBI double to left which brought home Amanda Wessell (2-for-3, double), who had singled to left with one out.

Meadows (1-2) almost pulled off a winning rally.

The Mustangs scored 4 in the sixth, getting a 2-run double to right center by junior Emily Skorin, and RBI singles by starting pitcher Josie Suchecki and an RBI double by freshman Sam Anderson, whose blast hit the right-center field fence on a fly.

The Mustangs had the bases loaded with two outs in the inning when Murin called on Bojarski.

The right-hander got the final out on a grounder to third baseman Finnander, who was able to step on the bag for the force out.

"Our defense was the story," Murin said. "Except for that one inning when they scored, we pretty much picked up everything."

Right fielder Vanessa Bagneschi made two superb catches for the first two outs of the bottom of the fourth. The senior took away hits from Abby Matakya and Maryclare Loughery.

Bagneschi caught the first one on the run to her left and made the second one with a diving grab that she just scooped up near the foul line.

First baseman Wessell then snared a hard-hit grounder by Suchecki for the final out of the inning.

West added an insurance run in the top of the seventh as Finnander led off with a walk and eventually came home on Valles' groundout and third RBI of the game.

Skorin and Anderson each went 2-for-4 to lead the Mustangs' offense.

"We weren't ready to play and that's my fault," said Meadows coach Tony Wolanski. "We'll go back and regroup.

"We weren't going to quit," he added about the 4-run sixth. "But we've got to do a better job focusing. Maine West took advantage of that. We'll get better. It's only our third game."

Palatine 7, Mundelein 3: The Pirates (5-3) won their fifth straight as senior right-hander Chrissy Roto (2-2) earned the win with 3 strikeouts and 1 earned run in the first five innings.

Lefty Danielle Boisvert (3-1) went the final 2 innings, giving up 2 eared runs and 1 hit.

Eight different Pirates got 1 hit apiece, including an RBI double by freshman first baseman Lauren Logan.

Katie Mnichowicz stole 4 bases and scored the Pirates' first run when she came home on Sam Salomone's groundout to deep short.

Buffalo Grove 10, Niles West 0 (5 innings): The host Bison improved to 8-0 behind junior Maria Dax (5-0), who struck out four and walked one while tossing a 2-hitter at the Wolverines (2-3).

Junior Emily Begnel went 3-for-5 with a home run, 2 RBI and 3 runs while Dani Shapiro, Danielle Brown and Ali Levato (double) each went 2-for-3.

KC Dunne also homered for the Bison while Andrea DiPrima had a double.

Schaumburg 13, Larkin 8: Aly Poehlmann, Theresa McGreevy, Becca Thompson and Rachel Karareka all homered as the visiting Saxons (5-2) won behind winning pitcher Alyssa Lancaster (3 innings) and reliever Kakareka (4 innings).

Lancaster, Poehlmann, McGreevy and Thompson also had doubles in the slugfest which saw Schaumburg outhit the Royals 18-10.

Evanston 6, Wheeling 5: Scout Scanlon (2 hits, 2 runs) and Becky Mennelle (double, 2 RBI) led the offense for the visiting Wildcats (1-3), who received 4 strikeouts in 5 innings from Sejal Shah.

Sarah Kern, Sammi Spinabella and Taylor Schroeder also had hits for Wheeling.

Coach Kristen Proffitt's Wildkits (5-2) earned the walk-off victory in the bottom of the seventh when Kelsey Coley doubled to deep left to bring in Caroline Duke.

Jenna Ehrensaft (2-2) earned the win.

St. Viator 5, Niles North 1: St. Viator (5-1) won its first home game as junior Julie Sweeney (3-1) threw a complete game with 5 strikeouts and 4 hits. She also had a double.

Sweeney was helped in the field by outstanding defense from second baseman Amanda Presslak, freshman left fielder Maggie Dickey and Torey Lenart, who made a diving catch in right field in the top of the seventh.

Kristen Cozzi had a 2-run single in the Lions' 4-run first inning driving in Bridget Urbanus and Ronnie Mack. Dickey drove in a the final run of the first inning with a well-placed bunt.

Maine South 9, Hoffman Estates 5: Junior Kelsey Pellus belted homer for the Hawks and classmate Emily Fett had a pair of doubles.

Glenbrook South 5, Elk Grove 2: Elk Grove (5-1) scored in the first on an RBI double by senior Olivia Roback and went ahead 2-0 in the second on freshman Elisa Payne's RBI single.

The Titans scored all their runs in the fourth inning.

Junior Jessica Balzano, sophomore Megan Keegan, sophomore Devan Parkison and senior pitcher Stephanie Maday (6 strikeouts and 2 walks in 7 innings) each added a hit for the host Grenadiers.

Vernon Hills 10, Hersey 1: Sarah Jurczak had a double for the Huskies (2-4) in the nonconference game in Arlington Heights.