Ullrich powers Wheaton North past Batavia

Kelsey Ullrich received a simple message from Wheaton North coach Karen Calabrese when the junior stepped to the plate with two on and none out Monday afternoon.

"(Calabrese) told me to make sure I could get it to the right side," Ullrich said.

The Falcons' fifth-place hitter did that and far more against Batavia in nonconference softball action against the host Bulldogs. Ullrich drilled an opposite-field, 3-run home run over the right-field fence; it served as the centerpiece of the Falcons' eighth consecutive win, a 4-1 victory, in Batavia.

In the worst-case scenario, Calabrese was hoping to advance the runners, both of whom reached on back-to-back errors. Ullrich was thinking right side the whole time, and the junior easily cleared the fence in right to provide Wheaton North a 4-0 lead.

"All I could ask of her was to hit it to the right side," Calabrese said.

"But I got a nice pitch and an opportunity to hit it," Ullrich said of her game-changing blast that scored Paige Wilson and Rachel Holaway ahead of her. "It worked out for the best for us."

Wheaton North (8-1) took the lead for good in its half of the third when Maddie Bucheit had a leadoff single, moved to second on an Ele Walter sacrifice and scored on consecutive wild pitches.

The Falcons ultimately had 3 more hits, 7-4, than Batavia (3-4), but the Bulldogs' Katie Luetkens kept her squad in the game on both ends. The senior shortstop made the defensive play of the game in the second inning, robbing Holaway with a diving stab up the middle and flawless throw to first.

Kahla Nolan had stymied the Bulldogs' best scoring opportunity by stranding Emily Derjath and Brooke Nelson at the corners in the Batavia third. But Luetkens answered the Ullrich round-tripper with one of her own, a leadoff blast well over the left-field fence to give Batavia its lone run.

"I wanted to send a message to my team," Luetkens said. "(The Falcons) are a tough team, a top-notch team. There was still plenty of game left. When (the home-run ball) was pitched, I was going to go after it."

Nolan, however, settled down, retiring the side in order in the fifth and sixth; Nelson had the last Batavia hit with two outs in the seventh, only to see Nolan extinguish the final Batavia threat on an unassisted Wilson out at second.

"(Nolan) was working with a fastball, rise and change," Calabrese said. "Defensively, they're still playing well."