HO_041819

homerhorizon.com sports
the homer horizon | April 18, 2019 | 35
Softball
Porters take down Griffins for first time since 2014
Drogemuller hits
key home run off
cousin to fuel win
Randy Whalen
Freelance Reporter
After she was hugely
instrumental in helping it
end, Alyssa Drogemuller
was asked if she knew how
long her Lockport Township
softball team’s losing
streak to Lincoln-Way
East had been.
“Fourteen games,” she
said.
When told it was actually
12, Drogemuller just
smiled.
“Oh, 12, 13, 14, it’s
my first year on varsity,”
Drogemuller said. “So, it
just feels good. It was all a
team effort.”
That effort resulted in a
5-4 Lockport victory over
the host Griffins on Friday
afternoon, April 12, in
the SouthWest Suburban
Conference Blue Division
opener for both teams in
Frankfort.
It was the first victory
for the Porters (14-3, 1-0)
over East (8-3, 0-1) since a
15-3 win on May 22, 2014
in Frankfort. Exactly two
weeks later, on June 5, the
Griffins turned the table
and defeated Lockport
11-5 in a semifinal of the
Class 4A Andrew Sectional.
East won every game
for the four seasons that
followed, including a trio
of them in the postseason
the past three years.
Until last Friday.
While Drogemuller
credited the team, and
it certainly took an allaround
effort to defeat
East, she provided the big
moments of the game. The
first was with the Porters
trailing 2-0 in the top of
the third. With two outs
senior second baseman,
Payton Grcevic and senior
catcher Lauren Johnson
had back-to-back singles.
That brought up Drogemuller,
a junior who finished
1-for-1 at the plate
with a trio of walks and
had started the game in
right field. It was her second
plate appearance of
the game, after walking to
lead off the second. Opposing
her in the circle
was someone Drogemuller
knew well.
It was her cousin, junior
right-handed pitcher Danielle
Drogemuller.
When the next family
reunion happens, Alyssa
will have bragging rights,
as the left-handed hitter
took a 1-1 pitch the other
way and deposited it over
the left-field fence for a
three-run home run to
give Lockport the lead for
good.
“It felt pretty cool,”
Alyssa said of hitting the
home run off her cousin.
“I had faced her before in
travel ball, but never in
high school. I knew I hit
it well, and the wind was
blowing out, but I wasn’t
sure if it was a home run. I
knew it when I got to first
and heard all my teammates
screaming.
“I don’t know what kind
of pitch it was, but she left
it hanging. It was right
there. [Because it was off
of her], maybe I felt a little
extra, but I also felt bad for
her. We’re super close.”
So, what kind of pitch
was it?
“She hit a nice little
backdoor curve,” Danielle
said of the pitch. “That’s
OK. I’ll give her props.”
Lockport added a run
in the fourth. Junior left
Cousins Alyssa (left), who plays for Lockport, and Danielle Drogemuller, who
plays for Lincoln-Way East, each had big moments in the Porters’ 5-4 win over the
Griffins Friday, April 12, in Frankfort. Alyssa hit a three-run homer off her cousin
in the top of the third, and Danielle connected on a solo shot in the first. Randy
Whalen/22nd Century Media
fielder Brooke Ligacki
reached on the only error of
the game, stole second and
moved to third on a one-out
single to center by junior
third baseman Kara Riordan.
An RBI groundout by
junior first baseman Sydney
Bush scored Ligacki.
The Griffins scored in a
similar fashion in the fifth.
Junior center fielder Paige
Geraghty, who led off the
bottom off the first with a
home run to center, lashed
a double to left to open the
inning. Sophomore right
fielder Hailey Malito sacrificed
her to third, and
Geraghty galloped home
on an RBI groundout by
sophomore Taylor Hochman,
who started the game
as the designated player
before pitching the last
two innings.
But the Porters added a
huge run in the top of the
sixth. Once again, there
were two outs and none on
when junior center fielder
Haley Panfil walked.
Grcevic (3-for-4, run,
RBI) then laced a liner to
right that took a weird hop
and rolled to the fence for
an RBI triple.
“It’s huge, and we’re all
very excited,” said Grcevic,
who is one of two position
players, along with
senior catcher Lauren
Johnson, back from last
season. “I’m proud of my
team, and we can accomplish
a lot.”
Three outs away from
accomplishing a huge win
to break the losing streak
to East, the Porters ran into
some drama. With Alyssa,
who is a lefty and had retired
the side in order in
the sixth now pitching,
freshman shortstop Chloe
Geijer clobbered a 1-2
pitch to center for a homer
to lead off the seventh.
Senior second baseman
Lindsay LaDere was then
hit by a pitch to bring up
the top of the order for the
Griffins. With the crowd
stirring, Alyssa came back
from a 2-0 count to strike
out Geraghty (2-for-4, 2
runs, double, HR, RBI) on
a 2-2 pitch.
That brought up Malito
and also meant that two
batters later there could be
the matchup of the Drogemuller
cousins in reverse
as Alyssa would be pitching
and Danielle would be
batting. But it never got to
that point, as Malito’s flare
to center field hung up
long enough for Panfil to
catch and fire back to Bush
at first for a game-ending
double play.
“I don’t really get nervous,”
Alyssa said of the
seventh-inning situation.
“I pitch my best when I
keep my cool, relax and
take a deep breath. And
when they all cheer because
they got a home run,
it drives me even more to
try to shut them up.”
It was the secondstraight
loss for the Griffins,
who fell to No. 1 stateranked
Marist 9-4 on April
9 in Frankfort. They lost as
many games in four days as
they did all of last season
when they went 29-2.
Almost lost in the shuffle
was the performance of
Porter pitcher Erin Kleffman.
The senior righthander,
who had a no-hitter
with just one walk and
five strikeouts April 6 as
the Porters defeated Joliet
West 2-0 in the title game
of the inaugural WJOL
Softball Tournament in Joliet,
settled in after the first
inning against East.
In addition to Geraghty
getting the homer to lead
off the first, Danielle deposited
a ball way over the left
field fence for a two-out,
solo homer and a 2-0 lead.
Junior catcher Chloe Honchar
and senior third baseman
Lexi Krause followed
with singles, but Kleffman
got a groundout to end the
inning. She only allowed
three hits and a run in the
next four innings, finishing
with four strikeouts and no
walks in her five innings
pitched to get the win.
“The first inning actually
helped as the game
went on,” Kleffman said,
“The wind was holding my
screwball up and leaving
it over the plate. So, after
the second homer, I never
threw it again.
“Oh, I know how long it
has been [since Lockport
beat East]. We came close
a couple of times but didn’t
win, so this feels great.”
Kleffman has no problem
turning the game over
to Alyssa.
“It’s amazing to have
her behind me because I
know she is going to get
the job done,” Kleffman
said. “The whole team believes
in her. It’s great for
everybody.”
And a great win for the
Porters.
“Alyssa is just a good
player who does her job,”
Lockport coach Marissa
Chovanec said. “But it’s a
credit to all the kids. The
energy level was great the
whole game.”