Softball: Montini power overwhelms Willowbrook
As a four-year starter behind the plate, Montini's Alyssa Sclafani has had more than her share of big efforts. That said, her game Thursday against Willowbrook has to rank right up there near the top.
The Broncos catcher blasted home runs her first two times up to the plate and also walked and scored in her other trip, helping Montini improve to 28-3 with an 11-1, 5-inning nonconference softball defeat of the Warriors in Lombard. Oh, Sclafani also showed off her big arm by picking off a runner at second base to end a Willowbrook rally in the third inning.
With 12 home runs on the spring, the Broncos veteran is hoping to close her stellar senior season with a deep run in the upcoming Class 3A tournament.
"This year our confidence is up and everything feels like it's coming together. All the other seniors are excited about the rest of our season," she said. "It's now or never. If we're going to do it we do it now."
Sclafani opened the game's scoring when she led off the bottom of the second and took a low pitch from Willowbrook starter Sabrina Conforti and sent it over the wall in left center. In the third inning she knocked in three more runs with a low, line-drive rocket that quickly cleared the wall in right center.
In all, the Broncos smacked four home runs in the game while racking up 11 runs and 9 hits in innings two through four, after going down in order in the first. Bri Clifton, who improved to 15-1 on the mound, hit a 2-run homer to center in the second inning that just did elude Warriors center fielder Jordan Marczewski, who crashed through the fence and almost came away with a spectacular grab.
Shortstop Amy Bukovsky added a 2-run homer in the Broncos' 5-run fourth as the hosts claimed the shortened contest.
"This was a nice win," said Montini coach Mike Bukovsky, whose team opens the Class 3A regionals at home next week. "They beat us last year in extra innings and we needed to take care of business today. I've got a lot of respect for their coach and we knew it would be a nice game. We played long ball a little, and we're just trying to get things rolling."
Warriors coach Rachel Karos, whose team dropped to 14-14, tipped her hat to the hot-hitting Broncos and is glad to have her team play a tough schedule that should prepare it well for the postseason.
"Honestly I knew they were good. I'm happy with how we played for the most part," Karos said. "They hit them hard. We made a couple mistakes and missed a couple locations and they made us pay, which we knew they would."
Willowbrook got on the scoreboard when Meghan Koterba singled home Marczewski in the third inning to close to within 3-1, but the Broncos answered with 3 runs in the third and 5 more in the fourth while Clifton was limiting the visitors to 1 run in 5 innings.
"You don't not want these games. You obviously want a little better outcome but we knew going into this that they would be tough," said Karos, whose team has played a tough schedule of late, including West Suburban Conference games with Downers Grove South and Downers Grove North, two of the other top teams in the area.