Glenbard West tops Geneva

Bri Wyatt and Glenbard West’s six other seniors are intent on going out with a bang this postseason.

They were bangin’ Friday, all right.

Wyatt and Jacklyn Tyburk homered in a 5-run fifth inning, blowing open a 7-0 win for the No. 8 seed Hilltoppers over No. 9 Geneva at the Class 4A Proviso West regional.

“Bri knows that this is her last dance. I think all the seniors do,” Hilltoppers coach Mary McGrane said. “They came out here today and played with a purpose.”

Wyatt, who hit .500 as a junior, has seen her average hover in the .300s much of this spring. Fans in Hillside Friday wouldn’t have guessed it.

Wyatt lined a single to lead off the bottom of the first, stole second and moved to third on a passed ball. Taylor Steinhilber’s single, the first of her 3 hits, scored Wyatt.

“Bri doesn’t have the numbers that she did last year, but she got us going today,” McGrane said. “This is the best we’ve hit with runners in scoring position in the last two weeks. From a coach’s standpoint, that’s good to see.”

Steinhilber singled with two outs in the third and Tyburk doubled in the courtesy runner to make it 2-0. Glenbard West (24-8) then batted around in the big fifth. Wyatt drilled a 2-run homer down the left-field line, and an error and single later Tyburk cracked a 3-run homer to left.

“I’ve just been hitting it right at people, but today was a good day,” said Wyatt, who later lined a wicked single to left. “I don’t really think of myself as being a home run hitter, but now I got three. That’s unbelievable.”

It clearly wasn’t Geneva’s day. The Vikings committed 3 errors behind Kelly McCaffrey, stranded first-and-third in the top of the first and had a runner doubled off second base on a liner to end a scoring threat in the sixth.

“They were a little better than us in every facet of the game and they earned their way to keep going,” Geneva coach Greg Dierks said. “Good team. No real weaknesses.”

Steinhilber (11-7) worked around two walks in the first, and Clare Stribling’s leadoff double in the third. She struck out six and allowed 4 hits.

“I bet if you’d ask her she wouldn’t say it was her best outing,” McGrane said, “but she went right at their hitters. She doesn’t get down on herself. I think the rest of our kids feed off that.”

It was a sour ending to a stellar 25-11 season for Geneva and McCaffrey (21-11), who broke the school’s single-season win record with her 21st.

“We have six seniors, and they’re the nicest kids you’re ever going to meet,” Dierks said. “They’ve been everything you’d ever want from a group of kids.”

Glenbard West moves on to play top seed Elk Grove at 11 a.m. today — the fourth straight year the two schools have met in the playoffs. Glenbard West upset Elk Grove in 2008 and 2009, Elk Grove winning 4-2 last year.

“I keep telling people it’s like the softball gods don’t like us,” McGrane said. “Hopefully this year we’ll give them a better game than last year. I think we’ve grown up in a year.”