Softball: South Elgin's Bell no-hits West Chicago
Was it or wasn't it?
Even South Elgin softball coach Brad Reynard didn't know for awhile. He was sure that Storm pitcher CeCe Bell was lights out Wednesday. But did she throw a no-hitter?
The home score book confirmed that she had. Ava McDaniel's second-inning home run provided all the offense she needed and the Storm tacked on 2 runs late in beating West Chicago, 4-0, at Pioneer Park.
The play in question was, presumably, Summer Silks' grounder that took a surprising hop on third baseman Adriana Jimenez, allowing Silks to reach safely. West Chicago scored the play an error, and preserved Bell's first career no-hitter.
She allowed only 3 other baserunners, including a walk, while striking out 10.
"I felt like I had a good warmup," said Bell. "My spins were working today. I just focused on attacking the zone early in the count, staying ahead in the count, and trusting my catcher Chloe (Ricard) back there calling pitches. It felt like I had good energy throughout the game."
Wildcats starter Jasmyn Trigueros wasn't bad herself. She allowed just 5 other hits, all singles, beside McDaniel's blast to left.
After a scoreless first, Bell started the second by getting hit by a pitch. One out later, McDaniel hit a high drive that cleared the fence in left, scoring courtesy runner Isabella Florio ahead of her.
Bell made it stand up, striking out the side in the third inning and retiring 10 in a row at one point.
The Storm (12-4, 6-1) took advantage of some fortunate hops to tack on two more runs in the seventh. Ricard reached when her grounder took a brutal hop on the Wildcats second baseman.
Joslyn Miranda followed with a bunt that rolled into no man's land in the middle of the defense. Both runners scored when Anna Kiel hit a worm-burner that didn't come up for the second baseman as expected.
Bell then finished off the gem in the bottom half, but not without some tense moments. After two quick outs, she got a third strike past Carly Clemens, but it got through to the backstop, allowing Clemens to reach. A dropped foul popup kept the next at-bat alive, but Bell got the strikeout on the next pitch.
"CeCe's been our No. 1 starter for two years now," said Reynard. "I don't want to say she's made a tremendous jump, but she just refined her game from junior year to senior year. You could tell. She just has that presence on the mound. She's our true leader. We've been in every game when she's been on the mound from us, and what else could you want from your No. 1?"
Keeghan Gallagher's first-inning walk, 2 errors, and the dropped third strike accounted for all of West Chicago's baserunners.