Post by Admin on May 15, 2013 0:33:57 GMT -5
Story by Rick Armstrong:
It's in their hands. And given the way Waubonsie Valley's Shannon Hohman has been pitching, that's a pretty good place to be.
For the second time in four days, the sophomore right-hander had Bartlett's number as the Warriors edged the Hawks 5-3 Tuesday to climb to 20-5 overall. More important, it leaves them 14-3 in the Upstate Eight Valley with a one-game division lead over Bartlett (21-8, 12-4).
"We shut them out Saturday (4-0) and were playing them back to back," said Hohman, who helped her own cause by driving in two runs with an RBI single and RBI double.
"We needed to come back with the same intensity as we had Saturday and I thought we matched that. We did give up three runs (in the fifth with a 4-0 lead) but we came back and scored a run in the next at-bat and that really helped."
That run came in on the two-out double over the center fielder's head from Hohman's bat.
"It's a big deal [to win conference] and that's what we're going for," she continued. "We lost three games earlier but we've come back from that."
Hohman scattered seven hits and struck out eight with two walks to climb to 16-5 on the season.
The hosts opened the scoring in the first off Holly Pagan (11-4), loading the bases on a walk and two bunt singles. Amanda Lack scored when Hohman grounded to shortstop Kayla Habersitch, who stepped on second and turned the double play to help Pagan work out of further trouble
The Warriors added two more in the third, also with two outs, keyed by a Bartlett error, Jordan Kurth's double and Hohman's RBI single. In the fourth, Meghan Grannan doubled, was bunted to third by Erin Hohman and came home on Layne Thresh's sacrifice fly.
An Alyssa Nowak double, Sydney Johnson single and Rachel Odolski bunt single followed by a throwing error helped lead to Bartlett's three scores in the fifth.
"I think we battled and, unlike the last game, I thought we did a good job of hitting to contact and taking advantage of some mistakes on their part and we tightened the game up and it was a good softball game," said Bartlett coach Jim Wolfsmith. "I thought she pitched a great game. She's a whale of a pitcher. You give her a lead and try to come back and you're asking a lot. We had some nice contact in the fifth inning. I would have liked to keep our composure a bit when things got crazy out there."
In the Waubonsie third, Amanda Minahan, who had reached after being hit by a pitch, successfully executed a double steal with Kurth, who was at third, by breaking for second then stopping to draw a throw. Kurth eluded the tag at home.
"It's a neat thing for the kids to be conference champions," said Wolfsmth. "Four years ago, we went 20-0 to win a conference championship and then we lost a regional title game to Glenbard North. I'd much rather have what we had last year — a run downstate."
Warmer weather and getting to play more games have helped her team, said Waubonsie Valley coach Aly Kelley.
"I think we're starting to get into a rhythm and we're working really hard in practice and it's starting to show in our game play. At the beginning [of the season] I don't think we had our full focus. Our biggest thing, though, is high energy all seven innings"
CONGRATS Shannon! Keep it up!
It's in their hands. And given the way Waubonsie Valley's Shannon Hohman has been pitching, that's a pretty good place to be.
For the second time in four days, the sophomore right-hander had Bartlett's number as the Warriors edged the Hawks 5-3 Tuesday to climb to 20-5 overall. More important, it leaves them 14-3 in the Upstate Eight Valley with a one-game division lead over Bartlett (21-8, 12-4).
"We shut them out Saturday (4-0) and were playing them back to back," said Hohman, who helped her own cause by driving in two runs with an RBI single and RBI double.
"We needed to come back with the same intensity as we had Saturday and I thought we matched that. We did give up three runs (in the fifth with a 4-0 lead) but we came back and scored a run in the next at-bat and that really helped."
That run came in on the two-out double over the center fielder's head from Hohman's bat.
"It's a big deal [to win conference] and that's what we're going for," she continued. "We lost three games earlier but we've come back from that."
Hohman scattered seven hits and struck out eight with two walks to climb to 16-5 on the season.
The hosts opened the scoring in the first off Holly Pagan (11-4), loading the bases on a walk and two bunt singles. Amanda Lack scored when Hohman grounded to shortstop Kayla Habersitch, who stepped on second and turned the double play to help Pagan work out of further trouble
The Warriors added two more in the third, also with two outs, keyed by a Bartlett error, Jordan Kurth's double and Hohman's RBI single. In the fourth, Meghan Grannan doubled, was bunted to third by Erin Hohman and came home on Layne Thresh's sacrifice fly.
An Alyssa Nowak double, Sydney Johnson single and Rachel Odolski bunt single followed by a throwing error helped lead to Bartlett's three scores in the fifth.
"I think we battled and, unlike the last game, I thought we did a good job of hitting to contact and taking advantage of some mistakes on their part and we tightened the game up and it was a good softball game," said Bartlett coach Jim Wolfsmith. "I thought she pitched a great game. She's a whale of a pitcher. You give her a lead and try to come back and you're asking a lot. We had some nice contact in the fifth inning. I would have liked to keep our composure a bit when things got crazy out there."
In the Waubonsie third, Amanda Minahan, who had reached after being hit by a pitch, successfully executed a double steal with Kurth, who was at third, by breaking for second then stopping to draw a throw. Kurth eluded the tag at home.
"It's a neat thing for the kids to be conference champions," said Wolfsmth. "Four years ago, we went 20-0 to win a conference championship and then we lost a regional title game to Glenbard North. I'd much rather have what we had last year — a run downstate."
Warmer weather and getting to play more games have helped her team, said Waubonsie Valley coach Aly Kelley.
"I think we're starting to get into a rhythm and we're working really hard in practice and it's starting to show in our game play. At the beginning [of the season] I don't think we had our full focus. Our biggest thing, though, is high energy all seven innings"
CONGRATS Shannon! Keep it up!