Saints split softball doubleheader
WEST CHICAGO – West Chicago pitcher Mary Connolly made herself known to St. Charles East with the first three pitches in the team's doubleheader Wednesday.
With Saints pitcher Katie Stengler at the plate, Connolly threw three very fast strikes inside and got her first of 16 strikeouts for the day within minutes.
The rest of the Saints (2-1) struggled to overcome Connolly's power, not just offensively. The sophomore also scored the first game's only two runs, as the Wildcats shut out the Saints, 2-0.
East coach Kelly Barnett said the team needed to intensify its attitude if it wanted to make a bigger stand in the second game.
"I definitely think we were taken aback," she said of her players' reaction to Connolly, "and we shouldn't be because we faced a pitcher just as good as her ... in our first game [of the season]."
So the Saints made sure to fire back just as early in the second game – this time with junior Bethany Carrignan's (2-for-5 for the day, one run) single off the first pitch from Wildcats pitcher Katie Olsen.
The Saints capitalized on the less-refined pitching and won the second game, 5-3, thanks to an RBI double from senior Rebecca Reinbold (2-for-7 overall, two hits) that sent Carrignan home and started the Saints' comeback drive.
Junior Jenny Niemic's RBI double in the fourth brought in two runs, and helped widen the Saints' lead. She was 2-for-7 at the plate.
Reinbold said one of the hardest parts of the game was simply waiting for it to come. The Saints canceled their two previous games because of inclement weather, and that very doubleheader got pushed back four hours.
"Coach always stresses that you need to be ready no matter what," she said, "but when you actually think there's going to be a game and there's not ... all that adrenaline comes up."
Not that the Wildcats made the victory any easier, as Connolly came back to the mound in the fourth inning to keep the Saints from scoring any more. Offensively, West Chicago put East in many tense situations, none more so than the second game's final inning.
West Chicago trailed 5-3 and had the bases loaded with one out. But the next two plays found catcher RaeAnne Payleitner getting a force out at home and East's left fielder catching a fly ball to end the game.
"It's always very nervewrecking," pitcher Gaby Moe said of the moment, "but it's also... kind of fun. ... It feels great to pull it off."
Barnett says she hopes her team can maintain its intensity throughout the season.
"There were definitely some pressure-packed situations today." she said. "We try to make practice as intense as possible. Obviously you can't simulate [what happened] in practice, so it was nice to see the kids perform when they were under pressure."