Three homers propel S. Elgin by Larkin
South Elgin unleased the long ball on Larkin Friday afternoon, and had some stellar pitching and defense to go with it.
Junior Cara Wolf hit her first varsity home run, and sophomores Victoria Watt and Kara Rodriguez each blasted round-trippers as well as the Storm rolled to an 8-0 Upstate Eight Conference win over the injury-depleted Royals on Elgin’s west side.
South Elgin also played an errorless game defensively and got a strong 6-hit performance in the circle from junior Sam Bolin.
“I had my mind blank and I was just hoping for a hit,” said Wolf, whose 2-run blast in the top of the first inning helped South Elgin to a 6-0 lead before Larkin could bat. “It just hit the sweet spot and it felt really good. It was nice.”
As was South Elgin’s first inning. The Storm (14-10, 7-6) sent 11 batters to the plate and scored 6 runs on 8 hits off Larkin starter Kiernan Schock.
Senior leader Katelyn Stonecipher led the game off with a double. Shannon Conway beat out an infield one-out single and Stonecipher stole third with Alyssa Buddle at the plate. Conway then took second without a play and Buddle’s single scored Stonecipher. Bolin then delivered a double to score Conway but South Elgin’s courtesy runner missed third and her run was disallowed.
Not to worry for the Storm, though. Wolf jacked her 2-run shot, Taylor Rees walked and Watt belted a long home run over the left-field fence to give South Elgin a 6-0 lead.
“We know we can hit and we know we can play defense,” said Stonecipher, who was 3-for-5 on the day. “We’ve had our ups and downs and we haven’t found that consistency yet but today was progress.”
Shock settled down in the circle but the hole was too deep for Larkin (8-18, 1-9) to dig out of. The Royals played without four starters as leadoff hitter Corinne Wimmer (quad) and No. 2 hitter Lexi Smithberg (hand) were out the lineup, although Smithberg did pinch run. Starting center fielder Maggie Hoffman and regular first baseman Anna Esterino also missed the game for other issues.
“It’s been a rough week for us,” said Larkin coach Larry Hight. “I haven’t had this rough of a week in a while. Our bench players are trying the best they can. After the first inning, Kiernan settled down and then (Rodriguez) hit that towering home run. Megan Johnson came in and shut them down the final two innings but we just didn’t hit.”
South Elgin added 2 runs in the sixth when Stonecipher beat out a bunt single and scored on Rodriguez’s blast over the fence in left-center.
Conway and Buddle each had 2 hits for South Elgin and Schock had 2 hits for the Royals.
Bolin struck out eight and didn’t walk a batter to earn the win.
“Putting a 6-spot on the board to start the game really helped us today,” said Storm coach Jason Schaal. “I’m real pleased with Cara Wolf. She’s been doing a great job at third base for us but she’s been struggling at the plate. For her to come through at the plate like that ... I couldn’t be happier for her.”
Schaal also praised Bolin’s effort in the circle.
“Sam’s been doing a great job all year,” he said. “Her strikeout to walk ratio is about three-to-one and she pitched great again today. She got ahead early and the defense was definitely there behind her.”