West Aurora, Batavia open tourney with wins

The sixth annual Fox Valley Softball Tournament began Friday at Stuart Softball Complex in Aurora with a pair of one-run games on adjacent fields.

Moments after Hannah Beatus completed a 5-hit shutout in West Aurora's 1-0 win over Kaneland, Batavia sophomore Rachael Lovestrand stroked a game-winning single up the middle to give the Bulldogs a 2-1 win over Burlington Central in 8 innings.

West Aurora (9-4-1) and Batavia (7-5) will play in the semifinals at 2:30 p.m. Saturday. The Blackhawks just defeated Batavia 7-0 on Thursday in an Upstate Eight Conference matchup.

"Hopefully we'll bring our 'A' game this time," Lovestrand said. "We know what to expect."

Lovestrand's winning RBI came on a 2-strike pitch from Ashley Ratliff (3-2). Ryanne Rokos opened the eighth inning with a bunt single. But with Toni Galas at bat Rokos was called out for leaving early.

Galas got the rally started again with a single and stole second before scoring on Lovestrand's hit to center. The throw to the plate was close but not quite in time to get Galas.

"With a game like that I'm trying to be aggressive and send her in. It worked out," Batavia coach Lupe Castellanos said.

"It was one of those games whoever bats last is probably going to win. Awesome game. Defensively we made some plays."

Lovestrand made one of those at second base, diving to her right to take a hit away from pinch hitter Alyssa Mish in the seventh.

Burlington Central (6-7) scored its only run in the first inning. Emily Kisch reached on an error and scored on Kristina Ahler's triple over the right fielder's head.

Batavia tied the game in the third when Rokos singled and scored on a hit by Galas. The top two hitters in Batavia's lineup both had 2 hits.

Kaylan Waldron pitched the first 4 1/3 innings for Batavia before Alena Theis tossed the final 3 2/3, allowing only 1 hit and striking out four to earn the win.

"That's a tough one to swallow," Rockets coach Kyle Molik said. "We're right on the edge of breaking through. We're playing strong competition for a reason. We are playing better defensively but we've just got to get that timely hit. The timely hit is what is missing right now."

The Rockets only had 3 hits in 8 innings, 2 of them by Kisch - whose play in center field kept the score 1-1. She robbed Natalie Offutt of a hit leading off the fourth by coming in to make a diving catch.

Her best play came with runners on second and third and 2 outs in the fifth when Galas launched a ball that looked like it would sail over Kisch's head. Instead, Kisch raced back and reached over her shoulder to make a spectacular catch.

"If we had SportsCenter in this region she would probably have 4 of the Top 10 today," Molik said. "That was one heck of a performance by her defensively in center field. That's something she thrives on. Her ability to roam the outfield, you watch her in practice, it puts a big smile on her face. That's something she expects of herself. For us to be able to depend on her defensively like that is huge for our team."

West Aurora 1, Kaneland 0: The Blackhawks got the only run they needed in the second inning.

Kendall Podschweit singled and took second on a wild pitch. She scored on a 1-out double just inside the third-base line and past diving Kaneland third baseman Paige Kueffler.

"She has a real nice line drive swing," West Aurora coach Randy Hayslett said of his No. 8 hitter. "She and (No. 9 hitter) Corey (McCreedy) at the bottom we have some nice line drive hitters who can get on base. She's been hitting like that the last week. It didn't surprise me completely."

Vargas said the whole team is coming on strong.

"At first I think we started off shaky but once we started getting more games in we got better with our defense and our hitting," Vargas said.

West Aurora also is getting excellent pitching from the sophomore Beatus, whose grandfather passed away Thursday. She fanned 9 Kaneland hitters, catching many of them looking, while improving to 6-3.

"For Hannah to come back after her grandfather passed yesterday, she comes back strong with two big wins, I think that says enough about her," Hayslett said. "It's nice to beat a good team in a 1-run game."

"She did a great job," said Kaneland coach Peter Goff, who offered his sympathies to Beatus before the game. "I give her a lot of credit. She really dug in and did a good job."

Kaneland's best scoring chance came in the sixth. Rachel Gorress singled and would have scored on a long double by Meg Cohrs. But the ball one-hopped over the fence for a ground-rule double, keeping Gorress at third base.

"She's in and we're tied 1-1," Goff said. "I was hoping it (the ball) would slide in, bounce off, but it didn't. That's the way it goes."

After Morgan Sikon walked to load the bases with one out, Beatus induced a pop-up to catcher Carley Frauenhoff and then got out of the inning on a runner interference call on a ground ball to shortstop Taylor Podschweit.

"Give credit to Taylor," Hayslett said. "Taylor knew the runner was coming through and she was going for that. She knew she didn't need to hesitate. She could take the interference and get out of the inning. She's a heady player."

Anissa Becker led the Knights with 2 hits.

Kaneland (6-4) also got a well-pitched game from Courtney Davis, who fell to 1-2 despite holding West Aurora to 6 hits.

"Really proud of Courtney," Goff said. "She kept 1-6 at bay. We had good defense today. Happy with the effort. We just can't watch (called third strikes). I can handle losing, can't handle losing that way."

In other quarterfinal action, Metea Valley (6-5) defeated Yorkville 6-1, and Oswego beat Rosary. Metea will play Oswego in the semifinals Saturday afternoon with the winner meeting the West Aurora-Batavia winner at 5:30 p.m. Saturday for the championship.