Softball: Wedl pitches Wauconda past Carmel

It took only one for the one-and-only Kayla Wedl to send the No. 1 seed headed toward defeat.

"Once we get one (run) on the board, I just get in the zone and keep going," Wauconda's ace said. "I'd like more than one, but one's enough."

Ten was way more than needed.

In dispatching top-seeded Carmel Catholic 10-0 in six innings in Saturday's Class 3A softball sectional final at Grayslake Central, No. 3 Wauconda got quite the performance from Wedl - one that no one will likely soon forget.

Wedl struck out 15 batters, allowed 2 hits and walked one. She might have been even better at the plate, hitting a pair of 2-run homers, walking twice, stealing two bases and scoring 3 runs.

"Kayla was fantastic (in the circle)," Corsairs coach Jason Raymond said. "You got to give her credit for doing what she always does, but also leading them and taking the pressure off them offensively by knocking two 2-run home runs. Their offense, up and down the lineup, got hot because of that confidence they gained from seeing those balls fly out of the park."

True. In advancing to Monday's 4:30 p.m. Evanston supersectional at Northwestern University against Marengo (33-6), Wauconda (27-11) got nine other hits besides Wedl's two. Brooke Sefcik was 2-for-2 with a 2-run single and 2 walks, while Taylor McCarthy and Alex Steffens both went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI. Paige Motley doubled as well, and Mallory Carver and Sarah Ricci each had RBI singles.

"I got to give kudos to the rest of the team," Bulldogs coach Tim Rennels said.

Rennels was especially thrilled with his offense considering its performance against Antioch in the semifinals. The Bulldogs had only 5 hits, including a 2-run homer by Sefcik, in a 2-0 win.

"I boiled it down and we had five quality swings in the (Antioch) game," Rennels said. "One was Brooke's home run, thank goodness.

"They made the adjustments (Saturday)."

Carmel (30-8) figured it could hit Wedl, considering its lineup hit 60 home runs and had seen quality pitching in the East Suburban Catholic Conference.

"We see a couple of pitchers comparable to her in conference," said Raymond, whose Corsairs scored 4 runs off Minnesota-recruit Kendal Judge of Providence Catholic. "The girls were confident that they could hit (Wedl). I think we got some good swings, but she's a great pitcher. She hits her spots. She doesn't give you too many pitches to hit."

Carmel's Jenny Behan, who hit 17 homers this season, went 0-for-3. The James Madison recruit struck out swinging in the first, popped out to Wedl in foul ground in the fourth and reached on an error in the sixth when her popup into shallow right-center was dropped.

"We hadn't really seen anyone throwing spin or anyone who knows how to float the ball," Behan said of Wedl. "She's a great pitcher. I'll give it to her."

Wauconda's UIC commit had a game plan on how to pitch to Behan, and she executed it.

"Go out and away," Wedl said. "I felt like if she had one in, she would just take it out. So we kept it down and away. We kept it low. No high."

Wedl gave herself the only runs she needed in the top of the first. After Motley doubled into the right-field corner against Claire Petrus, Wedl lifted a pitch high in the air and over the fence in right-center.

"I didn't think that was going over," Wedl said. "I was just running for a double."

McCarthy lined an RBI double to score Ricci in the second and make it 3-0. Then with one on and one out in the fourth, after Wauconda left the bases loaded in the third, Wedl crushed a pitch down the left-field line for her 14th home run of the season.

Up 6-0, Wauconda tacked on four more runs in the sixth, stringing together four singles in a row.

Petrus and Sarah Koesser doubled for Carmel's lone hits. The Corsairs had scored 59 runs in their three previous state tournament games.

"They had not faced Kayla Wedl," Rennels said. "That was our advantage."