Errors, Marist keep Downers South from state

It was bad timing for Downers Grove South to have a bad day on the softball field.

Marist took advantage of 5 Mustangs errors Tuesday, eliminating them from the Class 4A postseason with a 5-4 decision at the Benedictine supersectional at Lisle.

"Normally we're a little more solid defensively," Mustangs coach Ron Havelka said. "We made some poor decisions early on a few things, made a few mistakes, and it was costly to us."

Three of the errors came in the first inning and led to the first run. Brooke Wilson reached first base on a fielder's choice, stole second, went to third when the throw went into center field and scored when the throw to third base went wild.

Marist starting pitcher Zariya Gonzalez scored in the second inning after reaching on another error. She scored on an Alexis Rogers single to center field.

The Mustangs rebounded with a 4-run third inning, chasing Gonzalez.

Lindsey Herrmann led off with a double to left, Kristen Bialek walked and Kristin Lea was safe on a Marist error. Herrmann scored when Caroline Hedgcock was hit by a pitch.

Zahrya McFarland drove in Bialek with a bloop hit to center, and Lea and Hedgecock came across on Nicole Bowman's single to right-center.

"We got off to a shaky start, made some mistakes early in the game," Havelka said. "But then we came back, fought back, took a 4-2 lead only to see them come back and take a 5-4 game. It was a tough game. Tough game to lose."

The RedHawks took the lead back in the bottom of the fourth, taking advantage of 3 walks. The big blow was Paige Egan's 2-run single to center.

"The field had a lot of bounce in it today, so I was just making sure to use that to my advantage," Egan said.

"They got a couple of big clutch hits in that inning," Havelka added.

Payton Buresch came in to pitch and got out of the inning.

"We had two great pitchers all year," Havelka said. "One was 18-1, the other one finished, I think, 15-1, so it was a great year. They got the ball in play and made the little plays when they had to."

Meanwhile, the Mustangs (36-2) struggled against Reilly.

"I don't know if she was doing anything different. We just didn't make real good contact necessarily.

"Payton Buresch hit that long fly to left field (in the sixth inning for an out). On a regular (high school) diamond that's a home run. It's maybe 10 feet from the fence and these fences are 225. But it's part of the game. It's the same distance for both teams. That's the way it goes. It's tough."

Marist will play Oak Park-River Forest at 5:30 p.m. Friday in a state semifinal.

"We were ready to play," Havelka said. Sometimes when you lose a game you can say we weren't ready to go. We were ready to go."

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