NL_051718

newlenoxpatriot.com Sports
the New Lenox Patriot | May 17, 2018 | 47
fastbreak
Softball
Knights’ bats go cold to snap 10-game winning streak
22nd Century Media File Photo
1st-and-3
Postseason push
1. Baseball (above)
The Knights’ quest
to repeat as regional
champs starts at
4:30 p.m. Wednesday,
May 23 at
Marist when they will
play Marian Catholic
in the regional semifinal.
The Warriors will
play the same day at
6:30 p.m. at home
against Stagg.
2. Lacrosse
LW boys lacrosse will
open the playoffs at
6:30 p.m. Monday,
May 21 against Minooka
at Central – a
team they just beat
on Senior Night.
Girls lacrosse will
play either Sandburg
or O’Fallon at 5:30
p.m. Wednesday,
May 23 in Minooka.
3. Boys Volleyball
No. 2-seed West
will play either Joliet
Catholic or Joliet West
at home at 5:30 p.m.
Tuesday, May 22. Central
will also play at
home either against
Marian Catholic or
Rich East at 6:30 p.m.
Tuesday, May 22.
Central earns No. 1
seed, opens playoffs
Tuesday, May 22, at
Thornwood High
RANDY WHALEN
Freelance Reporter
Even the top teams hit a
speed bump. The Lincoln-
Way Central softball team
did on May 8.
A day after clinching a
share of another conference
title, the Knights got plenty
of hits, but gave up more.
In fact they surrendered 18
and allowed a season-high in
runs in an 8-2 loss to Lockport
Township in a South-
West Suburban Conference
crossover in New Lenox.
The game was originally
scheduled for April 18, but
it was postponed due to the
weather. The loss broke a
10-game winning streak for
Central (21-3), which lost
to the Porters (23-5) for the
fourth time in the past three
seasons.
The same day the Knights
lost to Lockport, they did get
good news, however. That
was the fact they received
the top seed in a sectional for
the first time since 2007. The
Class 4A sectional will be
hosted by Joliet West. Lockport
received the third seed,
behind Lincoln-Way East.
Plainfield South, Plainfield
East, Lincoln-Way West,
Joliet West and Minooka
rounded out the top eight
seeds, respectively.
LISTEN UP
“This is the best feeling right now. To be honest, I
feel like I just won sectionals with that win right
there.”
Jacob Bernard – Lincoln-Way West boys water polo coach, after the
team winning its first postseason game in school history on May 9
“That seed was important,
no denying that,” said Central
coach Jeff Tarala, of getting
the top-spot and avoiding
East or Lockport until
the sectional title game. “But
last year Plainfield South
gave us everything we could
handle [the host Knights
won 7-6 in 8 innings] in the
regional title game. So you
always have to be ready.”
Unfortunately for Central
it was the Porters who were
ready in last weeks game. A
day after getting six hits in
a 10-2 loss at Lincoln-Way
East, they registered out that
many hits in the first inning
in scoring three runs.
But the tone was set in
the bottom half of the first
as Central loaded the bases
with one out. But Lockport
pitcher Erin Kleffman zoned
in and got a pair of first-pitch
pop-flies to end the inning.
That started a stretch where
the Knights left at least two
on base for the first five innings,
stranded 11 total in
that span and 12 total in the
game.
“Whenever I think of
Lockport, I know they can
hit it, and they did that,”
Tarala said. “It was just one
of those games where their
balls found holes, and we
didn’t help ourselves, since
we had [three] errors, which
is uncharacteristic for us.
That happens sometimes but
a lot of that is due to them
putting the ball in play, and
we didn’t do that. We’d get
the first few hitters on, but
Tune In
they’d shut us down, and
we couldn’t get that big hit.
Against these teams, the
mistakes are magnified.
“After the game I think the
girls thought I’d be mad, but
I was as positive as can be.
We have an extremely young
team [only two seniors in the
starting lineup against Lockport].
We got down 6-1 and
then settled in. It was only
a 2-1 game the rest of the
way.”
The Knights did end up
with 11 hits as eight players
had at least one hit. Sophomore
designated player Gianna
Niemeier (2-for-4) led
off the second with a home
run and freshman shortstop
Carly Alvers (2-for-4) led
off the seventh with a home
run to account for Central’s
scoring. Junior center fielder
Gabriella Gedville (2-for-4)
also had a pair of hits.
The Knights already
clinched at least a share of
the Red Division title in
SouthWest Suburban Conference
the day before on
May 7. That was in a 13-3
five inning victory over Andrew
in New Lenox. The
SWSC Red title is the second
straight and third in the
past four seasons for Central,
which has now won six
league titles since the conference
formed in the 2005-
2006 school year.
In the Andrew win, Alvers
was 3-for-3 with a home run,
three runs scored and two
RBI. Senior Kamryn Murphy
was also 3-for-3 with a
Softball
• Lincoln-Way Central opens playoffs against either
Bloom or Thornwood at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 22 at
Thornwood, and Lincoln-Way West starts the following
day at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 23 against
Bolingbrook in Lockport.
Lincoln-Way Central softball earned the No. 1 seed in the
Thornwood regional. It will play either Thornwood or Bloom
Township on at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 22, in Thornwood.
22nd Century Media File Photo
trio of runs scored, sophomore
Torince Muczynski
was 2-for-3 with two runs
scored and an RBI, Gedville
and Niemeier both drove in
two runs and the big blow
was a 3-run home run by
sophomore Sydney Grein
which put the Knights up
12-1 in the bottom of the
fourth.
Platek got the win by going
the first four innings, allowing
one earned run and
striking out eight Thunderbolt
(10-11, 5-4) batters.
Then on Wednesday, May
9 Central defeated Thornton
15-0 in three innings to outright
clinch the SWSC Red.
Junior Katie Butcher (3-for-
3, 2 R, RBI), Jamie Furtek
(2-for-3, 2 R, 4 RBI), and
junior Jaclyn Cismoski (1-
Index
40 – High School Highlights
40– Athlete of the Week
for-2, 3 R , 2 RBI) led the
Knights offense. Sophomore
Olivia Flinn had a three inning
no-hitter with four
strikeouts for the Knights
(22-3, 10-0).
“It should be our goal to
carry on that tradition of
excellence,” Tarala said after
the game of winning the
conference once more. “To
sustain that [conference title]
should always be our goal.”
The Knights will open the
postseason at 4:30 p.m. on
Tuesday, May 22, against either
No. 16 Bloom Township
or No. 18 Thornwood in the
semifinals of the Class 4A
Thornwood Regional. The
winner will play either No. 8
Minooka or No. 9 Andrew at
11 a.m. Saturday, May 26, in
the regional title game.
FASTBREAK is compiled by Editor James Sanchez,
james@newlenoxpatriot.com.