Glenbard South makes state semis again

Glenbard South was behind schedule before Monday’s game even started.

Most of its fans were already at the Judson University field before the late-arriving Raiders.

“We drive mini buses,” explained Raiders coach Julie Fonda said, “and my assistant called me from the second bus and said the oil light is on the check engine light is on and it’s sputtering. I’m like, ‘Turn around.’ We had to turn around and go get another bus.”

The Raiders’ bats took a few innings to get on track too, but it’s full speed ahead for another trip to East Peoria after a 5-3 win over Elmwood Park at the Class 3A Elgin supersectional.

Glenbard South (35-4), trailing 3-0 through three innings to a team it beat twice during the season, rallied with 2 runs in the fourth and 3 in the fifth.

“It’s a lot of pressure to get down in a game like this,” Raiders senior Brianna Meath said, “but with our bats, I knew we’d come back.”

Now Glenbard South is back in a familiar position. The Raiders are in the state semifinals for the fourth time in five years, but haven’t won that game in three previous trips. Coincidentally, they will play Mattoon — the team who beat the Raiders in the 2008 semis — in a noon Friday semifinal in East Peoria. To a girl, no Raider sounds content.

“We are going down there to win,” said Glenbard South senior Danielle Chitkowski, a starter on the last two state teams. “I’ve been down there enough. Half of the girls have been down there before. We’re going there to win it all.”

Elmwood Park (19-16), shut out twice by Glenbard South this year, jumped on Chitkowski with 3 runs in the third inning Monday, the big blow Katelyn Jakobsen’s 2-run double to center that prompted Stephanie Chitkowski to relieve her older sister.

Just like in Saturday’s sectional final against St. Francis, the Raiders showed they can play from behind.

Shut out for three innings, Glenbard South got things going in the fourth with a Hannah Davey leadoff single. Danielle Chitkowski followed with a booming first-pitch homer to left-center, trimming the deficit to 3-2. Her coach wasn’t surprised to see Chitkowski redeem herself.

“Dani’s been doing that all year,” Fonda said. “We were down against Richards and she walked in the dugout, second batter up and she puts it over the fence to put us ahead. The kid just loves the clutch situations.”

Next inning, Rachel Cohen doubled down the left field line with one out. With two gone, the floodgates opened. Davey lined a single to score Cohen, took third on an errant throw in, and scored on a Chitkowski single. Jane Trzaska and Olivia Ramirez made it four straight singles, making it 5-3.

“They’re such a great hitting team one through nine that it doesn’t worry me when we go down,” Fonda said.

Davey reasoned why it took the Raiders one time through the order to get to Elmwood Park pitcher Gabby Uvelli.

“It’s hard to go up against somebody you’ve seen multiple times,” Davey said. “They know what you don’t like. You really have to go up there with the right mindset.”

While the Raiders’ offense opened things up, Stephanie Chitkowski (15-2) slammed the door on Elmwood Park. She got out of the third-inning jam, then threw four shutout innings, striking out six to pick up her older sister.

“Obviously there’s a personal tie there. Stephanie wants to do whatever she can to get her sister back in it and on top, and her sister’s a senior so it’s do or die,” Fonda said. “Stephanie’s a gamer. She’s a bulldog out there. Dani was tight and overthrowing, but to have Steph in the dugout ready to rock and roll is a gift to me.”