Softball: Vernon Hills' seniors tear it up

As she knelt and held the championship plaque with fellow Vernon Hills senior Sami Saliba, Dana Meline dabbed her eye.

Sometimes, tears aren't always so visible. Sometimes, seasons are unpleasant enough that a player might want to weep.

And sometimes, a player cries happy tears.

Take Vernon Hills' third baseman/leadoff hitter Meline, who's a four-year varsity starter.

"It's just so surreal," said Meline, her eyes still moist after sixth-seeded Vernon Hills avenged a pair of regular-season defeats to beat No. 3 Lakes 9-5 in the Class 3A Vernon Hills regional final on Saturday. "We came in as the sixth seed, obviously not expected to win. ... It's so cool to go out like this my senior year. All the seniors got together before the game and said, 'This could be our last time playing together.' We wanted to make it count."

Vernon Hills (16-19) will look to count another win when it plays No. 2 Antioch (26-11) in the Wauconda sectional semifinals at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday. Antioch beat Vernon Hills 6-4 in eight innings and 12-2 in North Suburban Prairie Division action.

Lakes (25-10) had beaten Vernon Hills by scores of 7-6 and 3-1 in NSC Prairie play.

"We were very motivated to come in and win this game," freshman shortstop Delaney Bowen said after pacing the Cougars' 15-hit attack with a 4-for-4 effort that included a double and 4 RBI. "We worked really hard to get here."

And the Cougars were ready, manufacturing a pair of runs on 3 hits in the top of the first inning against Eagles ace Ally Perdue.

"We played them tough both times, so we were confident going in that we would compete," Vernon Hills coach Jan Pauly said. "We practiced the past few weeks to face this type of pitching. We kept saying, 'From this moment on, this is it. We're playing for regionals.' A lot of heart went into this game."

For Vernon Hills' four seniors, the regional title was especially sweet. Meline, Saliba, Danielle Comitor and Rose Ferolo all played as freshmen on the 2013 team that won a regional title. But the Cougars won only 11 games that season, seven the following year and 11 last spring. The results have been better this season, but still not stellar.

"It hasn't been what we wanted it to be," Meline said after going 2-for-4 with 3 runs scored and an RBI. "We knew we had the talent. We just hadn't been able to put it together as well as we wanted to."

Smiling for her senior teammates was Bowen, the braces-wearing shortstop, whose 2-run single was part of a 4-run third that had Vernon Hills up 6-0.

"All four of them said that (regional title three years ago) was their favorite memory of high school," Bowen said. "It's awesome that it happened again for them as seniors."

Vernon Hills' seniors went a combined 10-for-15 against Lakes. Winning-pitcher Comitor was 3-for-3 with an RBI triple and sacrifice bunt, second baseman Saliba singled three times in 4 at-bats, and catcher Ferolo finished 2-for-4.

"A tough two seasons (for the seniors)," Pauly said of the 2014 and 2015 campaigns. "We're glad that they could go out with this win."

Sara Lenzi added a 2-run single for Vernon Hills.

Freshmen Kelsey Ulrich and Camryn Jones (2 RBI) each had 2 hits for Lakes, which trailed 9-1 before scoring 4 runs in the sixth.

"At times, we weren't aggressive enough," Eagles coach Bill Hamill said. "We dug ourselves too big of a hole."

At game's end, after he and his staff addressed their players, a dejected Hamill took a solitude walk to the right-field corner to gather his emotions. The Eagles graduate a pair of four-year varsity players in Perdue and right fielder Ashley Horner. Perdue poked a 2-run double and Horner had an RBI single in their final high school game.

"It's a tough way to go out," Hamill said. "We had a lot higher visions than this. Everybody always does. But we had the team built to (go farther)."