Softball: Wright's first career homer powers Wheaton Warrenville South past West Chicago into sectional final

Presley Wright rounded first base, heard the cheers and looked up.

That's when the Wheaton Warrenville South sophomore centerfielder knew she had done something she had never done before.

Wright raised her arms in celebration before rounding the bases after her two-out home run in the bottom of the fourth inning Thursday.

It was the first home run Wright had ever hit and it was all the Tigers needed to beat West Chicago 1-0 in the Class 4A Oswego sectional semifinals.

"It was a low inside fastball," Wright said. "I was just looking to get a hit, looking to get on, and then the pitch was in the right spot."

Wright drove the offering from West Chicago starter Jasmyn Trigueros over the left field fence, though she didn't know it at first.

"I heard it, saw it out of the corner of my eye, just turned my head down and kept running," Wright said. "If the ball is in, I've just got to run as hard as I can.

"If it's out, I'll hear it and kind of slow down."

Wright slowed down after hearing her teammates erupt in cheers. It is a moment she'll never forget.

"I've never hit one, high school or travel ball," Wright said. "Obviously, super excited about that.

"I was really happy because we had not been collecting runs."

Indeed, Trigueros was locked in a pitcher's duel with Tigers starter Maddie Pool, who had struck out seven of the first 10 batters she faced.

"I knew once Presley Wright hit that bomb that we were going to pull it out," Pool said. "With our defense? Yeah."

Pool and Trigueros both tossed complete-game five-hitters, but Pool was sharper, fanning 11 against one walk. And Pool wasn't surprised that Wright homered.

"She's been making great contact all year and just found a way to get hold of one," Pool said.

The sixth-seeded Tigers (18-12) found a way to reach their first sectional final since 2004. They will face top-seeded Yorkville at 4 p.m. Friday.

"I'm so happy to be here with this team, in the spot that we are," Wright said. "It's definitely a team effort.

"It's never like one person does something. It's always everyone collectively puts in a bunch of hard work and we just get it done when we need to get it done."

Seventh-seeded West Chicago (22-16), which was playing its first sectional game since 2012, had chances in the sixth and seventh innings but had two runners thrown out on the bases. Tigers shortstop Katie Jensen, who had five putouts and one assist, caught two Wildcats, one who overran second base in the sixth and another who tried to advance to second after a wild throw to first.

"I think our defense stood out today," WW South coach Jeff Pawlak said. "Katie Jensen made just such instinctive defensive plays without hesitation.

"And Presley Wright, I couldn't be happier for her. Kid's been working like crazy. We moved her up in the order and just came out free-swinging and ready to go and just jump-started us."

Like the Tigers, the Wildcats also played error-free defense, while Trigueros struck out five and walked none in six innings. But it wasn't quite enough.

"We probably played our best defensive game," West Chicago coach Sean Gimpert said. "Jasmyn pitched awesome and we had a couple hits late, but we couldn't string them together.

"Made a couple mistakes and that's the difference when you get this far into the season. But we set a goal to win a regional this year and we did it, so I'm really proud of our team."

Pool is proud of the Tigers, who are aiming to win their first sectional title since 1985, when the school was known as Wheaton Central.

"I'm super pumped, especially playing Yorkville," Pool said. "We're the underdog now, so we've just got to keep it going."