Hilltoppers stand tall vs. Plainfield S.

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Joliet Catholic junior second baseman Nick Ratajczak said there are times when he tries to get dirty, even when it's cold.

One of those occasions came in the bottom of the fourth inning of Friday's 12-0 thumping of Plainfield South in the third annual WJOL Area Baseball Invite at South.

With a runner on first base and nobody out, Ratajczak ranged far to his right, dove and make a backhanded snag of a line drive off the bat of Austin Wood. From his knees, Ratajczak spun and attempted to throw back to first to complete one of those ultimate Web Gems.

He could not quite pull off the double play, but he did take the Cougars out of a potential big inning they sorely needed.

That's because the Hilltoppers (2-1) had laid a 5-spot on South (2-3) in the top of the second inning -- thanks in no small part to Ratajczak's two-run single -- and still were cruising 5-0 when he delivered with the leather.

"I usually like playing defense better than offense," Ratajczak smiled when asked which event act of heroism gave him the bigger charge. "It was tough to see the ball off the bat, but I just tried to get dirty."

Right fielder Joe Cernugel threw out a runner who overran second on a teammate's single, taking South out of a potential two-on, none-out situation in the sixth. A 6-4-3 double play in the seventh inning, with Ratajczak making a nifty turn as the middle man, climaxed an errorless day behind senior left-hander John Ruettiger, who threw six shutout innings, allowing three singles while striking out seven. Junior right-hander Vinnie Hughes closed it out in the seventh.

The victory propels the Hilltoppers into Saturday's 10 a.m. semifinal at South against Minooka, which beat Lincoln-Way Central 3-2 in nine innings. South will meet Central at 12:30 p.m. in the consolation bracket at South.

JCA then will play either for third place at 4 p.m. or for the title at 6:15, both of which are at Silver Cross Field. South also will play at 3 p.m. at South for either fifth or seventh place.

The promise of a somewhat warmer day today is fine with Ruettiger (1-0).

"I hope it's going to be warmer," he said. "I don't like pitching in cold weather like this."

"I don't think anybody likes to play in this weather," JCA coach Jared Voss said. "Rudy [Ruettiger] had trouble throwing strikes in the first inning. It takes longer to warm up in this weather. But once he got loose, he was OK."

JCA left the bases loaded against South left-hander Matt Huyser in the first inning. The Cougars had a chance to grab the early lead in the bottom of the inning, filling the bases with two outs. But a fielder's choice ended the threat.

In the top of the second, JCA got things going with its small-ball attack. After Cernugel ripped a shot that zipped through the shortstop for an error, Tim Bennett sacrificed and reached on an error when the ball was picked up and dropped. Cladis followed with a perfect bunt single to fill the bases with nobody out.

Back to the top of the order and Ruettiger, who walked to force in the first run. Mike Nelson drove one in on a groundout, Ratajczak plated two with the first of his two singles and Steve Cservenyak, who later tripled home two runs, chipped in with an RBI double.

"That's our philosophy -- bunt a lot, make them [opponents] do the work," Ratajczak said.

"We're a small-ball team, a bunch of slashers," Ruettiger added.

"E6, E5, bunt single, walk in a run," South coach Paul Raspolich said, recalling JCA's five-run uprising. "We're young and inexperienced, and when that's the case you make mistakes. It seems like that's been our M.O. early on for a few years now. What we're trying to teach the guys is they can't wait to find that inner fire."

Raspolich noted that Huyser (1-1) threw the ball well. But seven errors were too much to overcome.

"We are going to get a different look on the field [today]," Raspolich said. "We're got to find the right ingredients.

"You can see the difference in the first couple innings. They get the force play to get out of a bases-loaded inning in the first. We make the mistakes to put them in position to score in the second and they get five."

JCA, which dropped its season opener to JT in eight innings before whipping highly regarded St. Rita, brought four consecutive pinch-hitters to the plate in a four-run seventh inning. Three got hits and one ripped a shot at the third baseman for a groundout.

"We may be a little like the Cubs last year. We may experiment with different lineups," Voss said. "We think we have depth, both in hitters and pitchers, and we want to give all those kids a chance."

Today, though, there is that matter of attempting to win the WJOL Invite for the second time in three years.

"This is an awesome tournament, and especially after the JT loss, we feel like we have a chip on our shoulder now," Ruettiger said. "I can't wait to play Minooka."

Three one-run games Friday -- and JCA's blowout victory.

"No doubt about it, our close games are coming [today]," Voss said. "I'm going to make that clear to the guys right now."