Suchecki’s swing sends Rolling Meadows to victory
Senior Josie Suchecki came to the plate in the bottom of the fifth inning with a chance to break the game open.
And because the veteran second baseman wasn’t in a hurry to do it, she did it.
“She is such a patient batter,” said Meadows softball coach Tony Wolanski. “Josie fouled off a few pitches and finally got the pitch she wanted.”
The southpaw-swinging Suchecki ripped a towering double to left-center scoring both runs to give Meadows a 3-0 advantage over visiting Maine West.
That was plenty for junior pitcher Sara Brunlieb (5-2), who went on to get the 3-0 win with a 5-hitter and 4 strikeouts for her second shutout in three days.
“I needed that,” said Suchecki, who went 2-for-3 with 2 RBI. “It was nice to be able to rip the ball and be an aggressive hitter.”
Suchecki’s blast came two innings after the Mustangs jumped ahead 1-0 on Chloe Prodanovic’s groundout to shortstop. The RBI brought home junior Sam Anderson, who had singled with one out and advanced to third on Hannah Whidden’s double to center.
“That was a good at-bat by Chloe for the RBI,” Wolanski said. “She had been battling with some fouls balls and the count was 0-2. Then she hit it hard to short and Sam did a nice job running on contact to score.”
The Mustangs ran their record to 5-2 with a trip to Huntley next on Wednesday.
“We are definitely playing well,” Suchecki added. “We are really an experienced team and work well together. We know each other so well and that’s the best part.”
Suchecki and junior catcher Sarah Caprio had the only hits off Maine West starter Ariel Valles (4-2) until Anderson’s one-out single in the fourth.
Valles struck out two and did not walk a batter.
Junior leadoff hitter Emily Hattory also had a hit for Meadows.
“Ariel did a great job as always,” said Warriors coach Amy Gonzales. “We didn’t make any errors or mental errors. We just weren’t hitting.
“You just can’t win when you don’t score any runs. We weren’t hitting as well as (Saturday double with Leyden). And we were hitting some right at people. Hopefully, it was just not our day offensively.”
Gina Larucci was the only Warrior with 2 hits, getting a bunt single to lead off the game and beating out an infield grounder in the third.
Angela Cruz followed Larucci’s bunt in the first with a single to left, giving the visitors (5-6) runners on first and second with no outs.
However, the poised Brunlieb escaped with a strikeout, ground to Suchecki and popup back to the mound.
Sophomore Abbey Herling led off the seventh with a single to left for West but was caught stealing by Caprio, who threw to shortstop Anderson.
Renee Pond also had a hit for West when she bunted safely with one out in the top of the fourth was sacrificed to second by Herling.
But Brunlieb (1-for-1 at the plate with a sacrifice) got a groundout to third baseman Natalie Cannizzo to end that mini-threat.