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Softball: St. Francis breaks out power bats

The St. Francis softball team celebrated a home run and a person very special to the Spartans program after Wednesday's 11-1 six-inning win over visiting Riverside-Brookfield.

"Small ball" was nowhere to be found. The Spartans (14-2) whacked four home runs, accounting for 8 St. Francis runs.

Two of those blasts were 3-run shots that both came with two outs. Caroline Caesar hit two solo home runs. Carlee Clark hit one 3-run shot and winning pitcher Shelby Winkelman hit the other 3-run producer.

"Those three hitters have been hot at the plate lately," said St. Francis coach Ralph Remus.

He said the victory against the Bulldogs (7-5) was especially satisfying as the Metro Suburban Conference member came into the game with solid credentials and was held off the bases just one inning and got multiple runners on in three innings.

"That's a good team. They came to play and we shut them down," Remus said.

The first homer of the afternoon came in the second and tied the game at one as Caesar hit her first of two for the game. She now has seven for the season.

The Spartans' biggest inning of the game followed in the third. With two outs Kristina Sherwin reached on a well-placed groundball that was an infield hit. Winkelman was hit by a pitch and that set the table for Clark, who sent an 0-1 pitch over the fence to push St. Francis to a 4-1 lead.

Caesar followed next to the plate and sent a 1-2 pitch out of the stadium and St. Francis led 5-1 after three innings.

"We knew this would be a tough game and with hitting, we feed off of each other," she said.

It was the same story in the fourth inning. With one out Ann Norman walked. Later, Sherwin came through with another well-placed groundball turned infield hit and up came Winkelman, who had been hit in the back her previous at-bat and who flew out to center in her first trip to the plate.

With the count 2-0 she emptied the bases with the fourth and final St. Francis home run. Her first two at-bats made her determined to make the most of her third.

"I was more intense and more disciplined to look for my pitch," Winkelman said.

St. Francis' last three runs came in the fifth and sixth innings thanks to an RBI triple by Becca Imbrogno, a run-scoring double by Riley Banigan and RBI infield hit by Megan Abbott. Kelly Griffin doubled in the fifth and was brought home on Imbrogno's big hit.

Winkelman got the complete-game victory in the circle, allowing just five hits and striking out eight.

After the game St. Francis players donned special T-shirts and a cake was brought out to celebrate Bill Melka's 20th year as a Spartans assistant coach. Remus has also been coach for 20 years.

The two knew each other, especially through traveling leagues, and when Remus was hired as coach, he asked Melka to be his assistant.

"We work well together. He's not against disagreeing with me and gives good advice," Remus said. "If we have been together for 20 years, something is going right."

Melka graduated from St. Francis in 1978.

"I wouldn't be doing this if had been anyone else than Ralph. It's wonderful to be able to return to your alma mater and work with kids," Melka said.

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