Marengo edges out Antioch

Updated: June 2, 2011 9:37PM

Opportunity knocked, but the Antioch softball team didn’t have enough of the answers on Thursday, as the Sequoits lost 3-2 to powerful Marengo in the semifinals of the IHSA Class 3A (smaller schools) sectional tournament being played at Grayslake Central.

Marengo (29-9) will face Grayslake North (22-10) at 11 a.m. Saturday for the title and a berth in the Round of 8 super-sectional at NIU in DeKalb on Monday.

Antioch could have been playing Saturday for the trip to NIU, but the Sequoits left nine runners on base, including seven in scoring position, in the one-run loss.

The most agonizing two that were stranded came in the top of the seventh which started with Antioch trailing 3-1 and ended with runners on second and third when a foul fly to right ended the game.

Here’s how the final inning unfolded.

After an out, Jess Liszka reached on an error. After the second out was made, Olivia Duehr walked, putting the tying runs on base.

Catcher Amber Mysliwiec then cranked a line drive over the Marengo left fielder that one-hopped the wall. Liszka scored easily to make it 3-2, but Duehr had to hold at third because the outfield fence at Grayslake Central is just 185 feet from the plate, and the Marengo outfielder was able to quickly retrieve the ball and get it back into the infield.

Too quickly, as things turned out, for Antioch.

Kaitlyn Phillips then fouled out to the right fielder to end the game that, if it had ended differently, would have resulted in Mysliwiec getting the game ball.

The junior catcher was awesome, going 4-for-4 at the plate with two RBIs. She also stood tough despite getting drilled in the face with a throw on a play at the plate.

“I thought there were two keys to the game,” said Antioch coach Jeff Tylka, who coached the Sequoits to a third-place finish in last year’s state tournament. “They were able to put pressure on us by getting down their sacrifice bunts, and we left seven runners in coring position. That was the big difference.

“Then, you can look at other things like the throwing error before their home run. Our double (by Sage Keyes in the second inning) hit off the top of the fence and we didn’t score off that, and theirs went over (for a third-inning two-run homer).”

Duehr pitched an eight-hitter, fanning three and walking one. She surrendered the two-run blast to Marengo’s No. 9 hitter, Megan Semro and and double/single combination for a run in the fourth.

Antioch got a run in the first on a hit by Liszka and Myslieiwiec’s two-out hit.

“These seniors finished 121-19 (for four years). I told them after the game they gave the best gift a group can give a program … that’s the expectation of winning,” Tylka said. “Now, they’re passing the torch to the younger kids and it’s up to them to decide if they’re going to take it and run with it, or whether they’re going to let things slip back down.”

Of the 10 girls in Antioch’s lineup on Thursday, seven will return next spring, and all four seniors will be playing college ball next year.

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