Dominant Ieuter powers New Trier

Updated: May 28, 2011 3:40PM

Brigit Ieuter pitched lights-out while taking her team to a regional championship.

No. 1 seed New Trier ousted No. 8 seed Loyola 8-0 in Saturday’s regional final at Resurrection.

“Today, we played the way we’ve been pushing toward all season,” Trevians head coach John Cadwell said. “All season we’ve moved forward a couple steps, we’ve moved back and we’ve been a little erratic at times, but today, we really established some consistency.”

Ieuter didn’t waste any time as she struck out two in the first before New Trier (20-11) got rolling in the bottom half of the inning.

After junior second baseman Jackie Stern bunted for a single, senior outfielder Raechel Cloud sent a ball over the center field fence to gain the 2-0 lead.

The junior starting pitcher continued to dominate as she went the full seven innings, giving up one hit and two walks while striking out 12.

“As a team, we’ve become more focused and motivated especially now during the playoffs,” Ieuter said. “I feel like I’ve gotten a little more momentum back after we went through a few rainouts.”

In the third, the Trevians extended their lead to 5-0 after Stern slid home on a fielder’s choice, sophomore shortstop Ryan Lee singled and an Eileen Hurley groundout allowed Cloud to score.

New Trier finished off the scoring in the sixth with three more runs thanks to some zealous base running.

The Trevians proved to be aggressive on the base paths all day as they finished with 11 stolen bases including four in the third and sixth.

“This year has been a year where we want people thinking about getting to the next base,” Cadwell said. “We want people thinking about getting home if they’re on third and we want batters making the most of the at-bat.”

Besides making a great diving catch in the infield in the sixth, Stern finished the game 3-for-4 with three stolen bases.

Cloud went 1-for-4 with three RBIs and two stolen bases.

Sophomore catcher Brooke Kehoe had the lone hit for the Ramblers (13-19) in the fourth inning with a shot back up the middle.

“We need to come out with the same attitude and we need to try and get ahead early,” Ieuter said. “I personally need to keep attacking the batters and I think we need to just play strong and finish each game.”

The Trevians will take on the winner of Lane and Niles North in the New Trier Sectional semifinals this Wednesday at 4:30 p.m.

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