Zenkel liner lifts Metea Valley

With her softball team down to its last strike Friday afternoon, all Metea Valley's Emma Zenkel could think about was putting the ball in play.

But with the way West Chicago pitcher Amy Goldsmith was throwing on the chilly, windy afternoon, that was often easier said than done. With the Mustangs trailing 1-0 with two outs in the seventh, Zenkel took an 0-2 pitch and lined it just out of the reach of Wildcats second baseman Jackie Stancik.

When Megan Arcivar followed Sydney Bajusz around the bases and slid safely at the plate without a throw home, what looked like a possible 1-0 loss turned quickly into a 2-1 lead. Mustangs pitcher Elise Titiner allowed only a two-out single in the bottom of the seventh inning to come away with her third win of the season as Metea improved to 3-2 overall and 3-0 in the Upstate Eight Valley.

"I just knew I had to put the ball in play," said Zenkel, who was 0-for-2 in the game prior to her game-winning hit in the seventh. "I hit a home run last week, which was pretty exciting, but this was real cool. Today was real fun."

Things were not much fun for Metea up until the seventh as Goldsmith allowed just one hit - a leadoff single by Kara Leckinger - while taking a 1-0 lead into the seventh. Goldsmith (3-2), the hard-luck loser, struck out 12 batters and was in line for the win before the Mustangs struck twice in the seventh.

The inning opened with Bajucz, a pinch-hitter, reaching on an infield error after a wind-blown pop fly was dropped. Peyton Voights then put down a perfect sacrifice bunt and Arcivar singled to center to put runners on the corners. But Goldsmith then notched her 12th strikeout and jumped ahead of Zenkel 0-2 before the Metea third baseman delivered the big hit.

Before the late rally, it looked as if Titiner would be the hard-luck loser after West Chicago scored an unearned run in the fourth. With two outs Jenny Woods reached on an error and Hannah Gehlhar tripled in the gap to right center to put West Chicago (4-3-1, 1-2) on top 1-0.

Titiner, who allowed just 3 hits, was happy to see her team battle back for the win.

"It was exciting to see us pull it out," she said. "I felt pretty good, but the run they scored was on me, giving up that line drive. So I was hoping the team would pick me up and Em's pretty good at coming up big."

West Chicago was without leadoff hitter Jenna Foreman, who was in the dugout with crutches after suffering a knee injury earlier this week. Her presence on the diamond will be sorely missed while she's out.

"We're going to miss our leadoff hitter," West Chicago coach Kim Wallner said. "It's going to show. It's a shame because Amy's been pitching well. But they executed today. They got the bunt down and they got a couple hits. They put a couple hits together and right now we don't put hits together."