Game face nets Warren’s first NSC title

Every time Jana Wagner rocks and throws, Warren catcher Sam Belletini frames not only her longtime friend’s pitches, but her expressions.

No one in the park has a better view than Belletini when she peers through her mask.

“She makes the ugliest faces when she pitches,” Belletini joked. “Her eyes are shut. Her mouth is open. It just looks like she’s staring off into space.”

At the end of Thursday’s North Suburban Conference championship game at Vernon Hills, Wagner’s face was full of contentment.

“I was just relieved,” Wagner said.

Warren could breathe a deep sigh and smile. Behind Wagner’s 3-hitter, the Blue Devils won 2-0 to capture their first NSC title.

“I definitely had my heart rate going (fast) for most of the game,” said Warren coach and expecting mother Carri McGahan, who announced last week that she’s stepping down following the season. “Baby’s OK now, too.”

Warren (30-4-1) got solo runs in the third and sixth innings, as the sophomore Wagner outdueled Cougars senior Megan Meline, who struck out 10 and yielded only 4 hits in her final home game.

“She was unbelievable,” Vernon Hills coach Steve Korney said of his ace. “She was throwing harder than I’ve seen her all year. She dug deep.”

“I think her speed was the same, but her spots were perfect,” Cougars catcher Sami Freibrun said. “She was hitting every spot that she was supposed to. Every pitch was perfect.”

Wagner pitched close to perfect softball. She struck out 11, including the last four batters she faced, and walked only one. (The four outs before that were all 5-3 putouts from Lisa Holland to Amy Ricci).

Wagner set the game’s tone in the bottom of the first. After Freibrun led off by reaching on an infield single, Carly Alm’s successful sacrifice bunt was dropped by second baseman Lyn DeMeyer, putting runners on first and second with none out.

“Our motto this year has been, ‘Positivity,’ ” McGahan said. “I said right away, ‘Girls, we got to pick up Lyn.’ ”

The Blue Devils did.

Wagner got the hard-hitting Meline to foul out to third and then struck out Jordyn Comitor and Jenn Claussen swinging. They happen to form one of the best 3-4-5 combinations in the conference.

Meline, Comitor (single) and Claussen went a combined 1-for-8, including 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position.

“I have confidence in those hitters going forward,” said Korney, whose Cougars fell to 22-12. “There’s no (other players) I’d rather have with those opportunities with runners in scoring position than those three players. Today it just didn’t work out.”

“We’ve played against pretty much all of them, especially their (Nos.) 3, 4, 5 hitters in travel since we were like 10 years old,” Belletini said. “After playing them so many times, we just know where to throw them and where their weak spots are. She was able to hit her spots, and she can come back after she gets down (in the count).”

Vernon Hills had two on again in the fourth, but Blue Devils shortstop Jill Fox made a heads-up play to get a forceout at third base for the second out. Wagner fanned the next batter.

Warren’s pitcher retired the last 11 batters she faced.

“She was definitely throwing a riseball and as a team we struggle with those,” said Freibrun, who went 1-for-2 with a sacrifice bunt. “I think if you keep your hands high, you can make an easy connection. But we just kept striking out too much.”

Credit Wagner and her batterymate. The junior Belletini is one of the few high school catchers who calls pitches.

“I would not be able to do it without her,” Wagner said. “I’ve worked with her since I was 9, so we know each other well.”

Warren got the only run it needed in the third. Megan Sowa turned on a Meline offering and pulled it into the right-field corner for a standing triple. Jill Fox then hit a ball into the hole. The girl they call “Dirty 30,” Cougars shortstop Michelle Harris (No. 30), got dirty. She made a diving stop in the hole, but Fox beat the throw, as Sowa scored.

The Blue Devils scored on another two-out hit in the sixth. Sowa led off by reaching second base on a dropped flyball. Meline struck out the next two hitters, before Anna Balch delivered a sharp single into center to score Sowa.

“We all stay together and we’ve gotten really close very quickly,” Wagner said. “I feel like that helps.”

Before Thursday, Meline had never lost to Warren in her four varsity seasons.

“She’s had a great career,” McGahan said. “But it was nice to win against her.”