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Softball: Elert's clout helps Carmel clear Wauconda

Already with 3 strikeouts in as many at-bats against the best pitcher in the county, one of the best hitters wasn't going down easily.

Another K vs. Kayla?

That wasn't OK with Amanda Elert, who liked the seventh-inning pitch Kayla Wedl fired to her.

“It was meaty,” Elert said.

Elert's swing was mighty.

Carmel Catholic's slugging catcher launched Wedl's 3-2, belly-button-high pitch high and over the fence in center field. Elert's 2-run shot, her 16th homer of the season, snapped a 2-2 tie and propelled the fourth-seeded Corsairs to a 6-2 win over top-seeded Wauconda in a semifinal of the Class 3A Wauconda sectional on Wednesday.

In avenging last year's sectional-final loss, Carmel (24-11) hit 4 home runs, giving the Corsairs 62 on the season. They set a school record with 60 last year.

“This was a little bit of revenge,” Elert said.

Carmel advances to the sectional final, which, because of the potential for rain, might be moved from Saturday (11 a.m.) to Friday (4:30 p.m.). The Corsairs will play the winner of Thursday's semifinal between No. 2 Antioch (26-11) and No. 6 Vernon Hills (16-19).

Wauconda, which won the sectional the last three years with Wedl in the circle, finished 25-8.

“I was waiting for that magic dust to come out,” said coach Tim Rennels, whose Bulldogs scored twice in the bottom of the sixth against Carmel ace Claire Petrus to pull even. “It's happened so often.”

The loss signaled the end of a magical career for the UIC-bound Wedl, who admittedly wasn't 100 percent healthy down the stretch after she tweaked her back two weeks ago. She described her injury as a strained ligament connecting a rib to her pelvis.

“It's just strained,” said Wedl, who missed the North Suburban Conference championship game. “It's not my spine.”

Her pain was real enough that she wasn't sure if she could play against Carmel.

“I didn't know until I warmed up,” Wedl said. “(The pain) is there still. Today, it actually wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Hitting was fine.”

“(Kayla) Serio went into this game thinking she was pitching the whole thing,” Wauconda catcher Taylor McCarthy said.

Carmel didn't know who it would be facing: Wedl or the freshman Serio.

“You got to prepare for Kayla, 100 percent of the way,” Elert said. “We heard the rumors (Tuesday) that she probably was most likely not going to pitch at all.”

Dani DeLozier deposited the first pitch she saw from Wedl over the fence in left-center field with one out in the first inning. Petrus homered to center field to give Carmel a 2-0 advantage in the fourth.

Aided by a defense that pulled off 2 double plays, Petrus was cruising. Then Wauconda, down to its final five outs, got a rally going in the sixth when Serio doubled. After McCarthy walked, up stepped Wedl, who swung at Petrus' first pitch and lined it off the fence in center field. Serio scored on the double, while McCarthy stopped at third. Petrus got Brooke Sefcik to pop out, but the throw to the plate bounced past Elert, allowing a sliding McCarthy to score the tying run.

“But after that happened, they came in and got composed,” Carmel coach Shane Schueneman said of his players. “They swung the bats. That's the sign of a championship team. That's what we've been stressing. You can't dwell on the mistakes.”

In the Carmel seventh, with Jen Giesey on second and one out, Elert connected for the Corsairs' record 61st homer.

“She really pitched her butt off,” Elert said of Wedl. “She's got a bit more up-and-down movement than we've seen with other pitchers in the area. (The first 3 at-bats), I was just missing. The pitches were there. Going into the last at-bat, I was just thinking, ‘I got to do something.' ”

After Elert's homer, Petrus (2-for-4) singled. Emma Bartz followed by belting her 15th homer. The Northwestern-bound Bartz finished 3-for-4, a triple shy of the cycle.

Wedl struck out 11, walked a pair and allowed 8 hits. It was the first time she allowed 4 homers in a game.

“A gutty performance just to get out there,” Rennels said. “(Carmel) earned it.”

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