Softball: Fawcett, WW South shut out Downers Grove North
Friday's Class 4A Naperville North regional softball final between Wheaton Warrenville South and Downers Grove North featured strong starting pitchers.
This game was not going to a clinic in big hitting, but one in small ball, and the Tigers got an "A" in that one, winning 3-0.
The Tigers (23-9), seeded sixth in the Plainfield North sectional, advanced to a Wednesday sectional semifinal. They await the winner of Saturday's Plainfield North regional final between second-seeded Downers Grove South and the 10th-seeded hosts.
"This is awesome. It was such a team win. The defense was great and we got crucial hits," said winning pitcher Isabelle Fawcett.
Fawcett and the WW South defense held the third-seeded Trojans (23-8) to 7 hits, 3 of which were infield hits. Downers North had no extra-base hits.
The Tigers were held to just 4 hits. Trojans starting pitcher Estelle Czech struck out 10.
The teams had faced each other in April with Downers North prevailing in extra innings.
"We knew what to expect. (Czech) is one of the best pitchers in the area, and we obviously executed when it mattered," Fawcett said.
WW South jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second. Katie Weisheit led off with a double to left and scored a wild pitch. Francesca Lang walked and scored on Kara Struebing's groundball out. Megan Adamek had a crucial sacrifice bunt in between.
"Our coaches told us to go out and hit, to go up to the plate confidently and know that we can do it. We got it done," Struebing said.
The Tigers made it 3-0 in the fifth. Abby Struebing started the inning off by getting hit by a pitch and stealing second base. Carly Briggs' single to center brought her home.
"I am so excited. The girls had to play a solid, all-around game. Our defense made the plays and Izzy was in control and hit all her spots," said WW South coach Jeff Pawlak.
Abby Ryniec and Allison Pustelnik each had 2 hits for Downers North. Coach Eric Landschoot said WW South did nothing that wasn't expected.
"They have a great pitcher, they played small ball, got the runners over. Give them credit, they have a nice defense," he said.
Landschoot said it wasn't a good day for the Trojans hitters.
"We were off-balanced at the plate, we were lunging at the ball," he said.