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lockportlegend.com sports
the lockport legend | April 18, 2019 | 39
fastbreak
Softball
Porters take down Griffins for first time since 2014
Julie McMann/22nd Century
Media
1st and 3
LTHS badminton
finding its groove
1. Plenty of depth
The Porters
knocked off Bradley-Bourbonnais
by
a final of 11-4 April
10 at Lockport.
In that match,
Lockport had eight
singles winners
and three of its top
five doubles teams
win.
2. Turning it around
Lockport No. 1
singles player Sawyer
Hollatz lost her
first five matches
of the season but
improved to 22-8
following a 21-19,
21-10 win against
Bradley-Bourbonnais.
3. No trouble in
doubles
The Porters No.
1 doubles duo
of Josie Majka
and Myra Zaheer
were 18-9 playing
together after the
Bradley-Bourbonnais
match.
LISTEN UP
Drogemuller hits
key home run off
cousin to fuel key
Lockport 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
“We keep improving little by little, and by the time the conference and
sectional comes around, we want to be playing our best.”
Stacy Sparlin — Lockport badminton coach, on the growth of her team
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.
Randy Whalen/22nd Century Media
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.
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: her cousin, junior
right-handed pitcher
Danielle Drogemuller.
When the next family
reunion happens, Alyssa
Tune In
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
back-door curve,” Danielle
said. “That’s OK. I’ll
give her props.”
Lockport added a run
in the fourth. Junior left
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 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,” Grcevic
said. “I’m proud of my
team, and we can accomplish
a lot.”
Three outs away from
accomplishing a huge win
Badminton
Tourney time — 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 24, and
Thursday, April 25, at Lockport
• The Porters host the SWSC Blue Tournament, with
the doubles portion scheduled for the first day and
the singles matches for Day 2.
Index
to break the losing streak
to East, the Porters ran into
some drama. With Alyssa
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.”
Almost lost in the shuffle
was the performance of
Porter pitcher Erin Kleffman,
who finished with
four strikeouts and no
Please see softball, 35
34 - This Week In
34 - Athlete of the Week
FASTBREAK is compiled by Contributing
Editor Thomas Czaja, tom@homerhori
zon.com.