Softball: Warren tops Palatine, returns to sectional
Consider Warren's season spun, the page flipped and the toilet flushed.
Warren pulled another cliché from its softball bag on a rainy Friday in Gurnee: The Blue Devils posed with a regional-championship plaque and took a team photo, after holding off upset-minded Palatine 6-5.
Winning hardware is what the Blue Devils do.
Never mind that in early April the team that won 31 games last season and boasted a lineup full of Division-I recruits had just a 5-5 record. Julienne Egofske insisted that it was no time to panic and, lo and behold, the Bucknell-bound senior was correct, naturally.
" 'Turning it around.' 'Flipping the page.' 'Flushing the toilet.' We say all of those things," Egofske said after going 3-for-4 with her 10th homer and a tiebreaking RBI double in the fifth. "I knew we would come together and surprise people."
In winning a regional title for the fourth year in a row, No. 3 Warren (24-12) earned a berth in the Class 4A Buffalo Grove sectional. The Blue Devils will play at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday against the winner of Saturday's Lake Zurich regional final between No. 2 Zion-Benton and No. 7 New Trier.
"We did have a rough start (to the season), but we've been building up to this," Warren pitcher/North Carolina commit Hannah Nommensen said. "We're going to keep fighting until the end."
No. 11 Palatine (12-17) gave Warren a ferocious fight. Trailing 6-3 entering the top of the seventh, and with rain falling harder and making it difficult for Nommensen to grip the ball, the Pirates rallied. Ninth-place hitter Reggie Much drew a leadoff walk, and one out later, after two pitches found the backstop, Maddie Craver singled home Much. Kenzie Craver (2-for-4) singled as well, before Nommensen got a strikeout for out No. 2.
After Megan Breytenbach reached on a fielder's choice to load the bases, Emily Parrott singled into center field. Maddie Craver scored easily to make it a one-run game, but Palatine coach Nicole Pauly held pinch runner Stephanie Becker at third base.
"I was a little surprised," Egofske said.
"I didn't want to make the last out at home," Pauly explained. "I wanted to put that (situation) in the batter's hands and see if we could get another hit."
Instead, Nommensen ended the game with her eighth strikeout, as Palatine left the bases loaded.
"They hit pitches that I couldn't get to move," Nommensen said of the Pirates' seventh-inning success. "But they're a good-hitting team."
"(Nommensen) is pretty powerful," Pauly said. "She provided a lot of speed. We talked about just getting our hands through the ball. My girls kept it simple and put the ball in play."
Warren coach Jenna Charbonneau was proud of her pitcher, who had settled down after allowing 3 runs in the first two innings. At one point, Nommensen retired 12 batters in a row.
"It's tough to battle through, and she battled through," Charbonneau said. "She didn't give up. You can't give up against teams like (Palatine). They're a quality team."
Palatine got early RBI doubles from Kenzie Craver and Victoria Parrott and held leads of 1-0 and 3-1. But each time the Pirates scored, Warren answered immediately. The Blue Devils tied the score at 3-3 in the second inning on RBI singles by Taylor Aaron and Nicole Somppi (2-for-4).
"Our offense doesn't quit," said Charbonneau, whose team got a pair of doubles from freshman Caitlyn Britton. "We focus on having quality at-bats and getting deep in counts, and good things happen."