Glenbard South starts with win over WW South
Getting a win in the season's first game is always nice. It's a huge relief when you started the previous season 1-8.
"We just wanted to start it off right, which we did," said Glenbard South first baseman Tess DiIorio after the Raiders defeated Wheaton Warrenville South 1-0 in both teams' softball opener. "It feels great."
It had to feel especially great to DiIorio after she went 3 for 3 and drove in the game's only run in the bottom of the seventh inning.
"I was just really relaxed, and I just did what I did the last two times at the plate," the senior said of her single up the middle. "It was good. Thank goodness it went right in the gap."
"I pitched her a couple of different pitches and she did well," WW South coach Denise McCance said of DiIorio.
DiIorio hadn't been feeling confident in her hitting going into the game.
"I was focusing because usually at practice I don't do a good job of hitting when we have live pitchers," she said. "I try to do what I can, but I was nervous today for our first game."
"She had a heck of a day," added Raiders coach Julie Fonda. "The funny thing is in practice she felt like she's been struggling. She says to me yesterday, 'I've got to find my trigger.' All right, let's look for your trigger. So today I said, Find your trigger, Tess? 'Yeah, I think I've got it now.' So it's just a matter of sticking with it. She's got a sweet swing, it's just a matter of being confident with it."
Both teams saw plenty of reason to feel confident in their defense and pitching, which looked in postseason form already. Neither team committed an error, threw a wild pitch or allowed a passed ball.
"I thought we played really well," McCance said. "Our defense was excellent, obviously, no errors, no passed balls, no wild pitches. Julianne (LaFleur) pitched a really good game. We just have to execute."
LaFleur took the loss despite allowing just 5 hits and no walks.
Jess Wilkes earned the victory for Glenbard South, allowing just 1 hit, a bunt single by the game's first batter. She struck out seven and walked one and scored the winning run.
"We have tight defense," said Fonda, whose 2009 team placed fourth in Class 3A despite the tough start. "I return a lot. It's going to be hard to get the ball through the infield on us. ...
"Their middle infield did a phenomenal job," Fonda added of the Tigers. "Third base (Hannah Granger)? She was incredible. First game, I think we're both pretty happy with the outcome. Obviously, I'm a little bit more happy, but you can't be upset with a no-error game in the first game of the season."