Softball: Waubonsie Valley falls short
Mary Beth Nolan~For Sun-Times Media
Updated: May 26, 2012 8:33PM
Into the fourth inning of the Class 4A Metea Valley Regional championship game, Waubonsie Valley and Plainfield Central were locked in a scoreless pitchers’ duel.
Yet it still felt as if the Warriors were doing their best to hang in, since they had escaped a pair of Central scoring opportunities early in the game. The bubble burst in the bottom of the fourth inning when the Wildcats scored four times on their way to a 7-0 victory.
The fourth-seeded Wildcats advance to the East Aurora Sectional, after defeating fifth-seeded Waubonsie Valley. The Warriors had defeated Plainfield Central during the regular season.
Waubonsie Valley’s Shannon Hohman and Plainfield Central’s Morgan Vogt put up zeroes through the top half of the fourth inning. Hohman left runners in scoring position in the first and second innings. But the Wildcats finally got to her in the bottom of the fourth.
Kaleigh Nagle led off with a shot directly over the head of Warriors center fielder Jessica Sarch, who got a slow read on the ball. Following the Nagle double, Dominique Roa reached on a bunt that went over Hohman’s head for an infield single. Roa was caught stealing, but after a hit batter, Karly Jackson drove in a run with a soft line drive and Timi Tooley plated two more with another single. Vogt completed the four-run inning with a two-out single.
That was more than enough offense for Vogt, the senior left-hander who improved to 10-1. She scattered four hits and retired 13 straight batters from the second inning into the sixth. Vogt only struck out two batters, but she pitched in on the hands of the Warriors hitters and induced 12 groundball outs.
“Morgan did what she was supposed to do, since we scouted (the Warriors) and we knew how we wanted to pitch to them,” said Plainfield Central coach Anne Campbell. “Her pitches were on target. She’s been our center fielder the first three years because she didn’t want to pitch, but she wanted to do it this year and she’s done an awesome job. And it’s something about this field, we always seem to kill the ball here.”
Plainfield Central (25-8) tacked on an insurance run in the fifth on a Michaela Schlattman base hit, and the Wildcats scored twice in the sixth inning on an RBI triple by Vogt and a single by Rachel Egly. Vogt had a single, double, and triple with two RBI in addition to her dominant pitching.
“I throw a lot of inside pitches with my curve ball, so I just went with that and trusted my defense to back me up,” said Vogt.
Sarch had two of the four hits for Waubonsie Valley, which ended the season at 26-9. Katie Benson and Courtney Hicks made good plays in the field in the early innings for the Warriors.
“We weren’t expecting their pitcher,” said Waubonsie Valley coach Aly Kelley, who expected Nagle to pitch. “Usually we’re able to adjust, but (Vogt) did a really nice job holding our bats down so I tip my cap to them. I’ve never seen our bats that dead before. I really think we came in flat today. This team has a lot to be proud of this season. We got our name up on the gym (co-conference champion), and now teams are afraid to play us.”
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