WW South gets first win thanks to big inning
For four innings the Wheaton Warrenville South softball bats were silent.
In the fifth the Tigers roared.
WW South sent 13 batters to the plate in the fifth inning of Saturday’s nonconference game at Glenbard South, scoring 9 in a 12-5 Tigers victory.
“It feels really good,” said the Tigers’ Jeff Pawlak of his first victory as coach. “I’m really proud of the way they played. We scored 9 runs with two outs in that inning. I’m really proud of the way they battled. We started out a little bit slow, but we did a really nice job.”
The Raiders (1-1) scratched across a pair of runs early, but in the fifth the Tigers (1-1) loaded the bases with two out for Kris Santora. Santora tripled to the fence in left-center, clearing the bases.
Santora came home when cleanup hitter Sammy Granger hit her first varsity home run over the 210-foot sign in center field.
“Sammy’s been hitting the ball,” Pawlak said. “Yesterday I told her she could have had two. The wind was blowing in hard from center, so that easily could have been No. 3. She’s been hitting the ball really well.”
“I just hit it pretty far,” said Granger, who hit a 3-1 fastball for her homer. “I like hitting home runs. Who doesn’t? I was just waiting for a pitch I could hit, and I hit it.”
Glenbard South helped the Tigers with three errors in the inning.
“They did a nice job of putting the ball in play, and we didn’t make the plays,” Raiders coach Julie Fonda said. “When that happens that combination is not a good one. They batted almost around twice, and a lot of them were hits. They did finally get on (pitcher Danielle Chitkowski), so to speak. She struck out two of the three outs ... we definitely should have been out of that inning with 0 runs scored. It should have been a 2-0 ballgame for us. But one thing falls apart, they all tend to. It definitely was a domino effect.”
The Raiders have state-championship ambitions, but first they need to tend to some early-season injuries. Outfielder Hannah Davey didn’t play, second baseman Brianna Meath left the game early, and relief pitcher Stephanie Chitkowski was greeted with a line drive off her leg by the first batter she faced.
The Raiders will treat the game like a “wakeup call” to improve their defense, Fonda said.
“Hopefully, this is good that this happened this early in the season and we’ll go from there,” she added.
The Tigers, on the other hand, hope to build on Saturday.
“We’ve got good senior leadership, and we’re trying to get confidence,” Pawlak said. “We’ve got a bunch of girls who were on JV level last year. We’ve got a really good mix of senior leadership, and the girls just have to get confidence. A game like this is huge for their confidence.”