Wyss, Angels fly past Joliet West

Updated: April 6, 2011 3:26PM

Before her freshman season Joliet Catholic's Alex Wyss decided to try batting lefty.

That decision certainly paid dividends on Monday.

Wyss used a variety of hits to go 4-for-4 as Joliet Catholic cruised to a 10-0 win in five innings over Joliet West in a nonconference local bragging rights showdown at Joliet West.

The Angels finished with 13 hits to support the two-hit pitching of Ashley Searing in improving to 5-1. Joliet West continued it's up-and-down season and is now 4-4 on the year.

"Freshman year I moved to the left side because it gives you two steps toward first," said Wyss, who switch hits. "It's been good. I was up there just trying to move runners and get as many in as could."

The junior left fielder, who bats in the seventh spot, did just that. She got the Angles attack rolling by slapping a ball to the left side with one out in the top of the second for a single. She stole second and scored the first run when senior third baseman Kelly Valencik put down a perfect squeeze bunt.

Junior catcher, leadoff hitter Haley Gerl followed with an RBI double, and two runs later scored on one of four Tiger errors.

Joliet Catholic broke it open with three runs in the third. Senior Kayla Zembruski led off with a single to right and Wyss followed with a perfect bunt that hung on the third base line for a single as Zembruski zipped all the way to third on the play.

Senior second baseman Megan Novak hit a ball up the first base line and eluded the tag for an RBI single. Valencik then had an RBI ground out and Gerl (2-for-3, 2 RBI's) got a hold of one and sent a deep drive to left center for another RBI double.

"Alex Wyss has really been working with getting her bunts and slaps down," Joliet Catholic coach Dave Douglas said. "The girls have some great chemistry this year and I thought we played well."

Wyss reached again and scored her third run of the day with a slap single in the fourth. Novak, who was 3-for-4 with two RBI's, had an RBI single in the inning and senior center fielder Alyssa Fehrenbacher (2-for-4) added an RBI fielders choice.

Zembruski (two runs, walk) capped the scoring in the fifth with a sacrifice fly to left. Wyss then followed with her fourth hit, but this one was from the right side and was a line drive past short as she showed she could do more than use her speed game.

"Yeah, it tricks them," she smiled. "This is an awesome win. We're big rivals, so to come here - only two minutes away, and win like this is great."

In the meantime Searing soared in the circle. The senior right-hander improved to 3-1, allowing the two hits, while walking one and striking out seven.

"We showed our stuff," Searing said. "I was fired up. I've played with a lot of their girls on travel ball so I wanted to do well and show them how far we've come."

Sophomore Katie McKay, who was West's starting pitcher, had a two-out single to left in the second. Junior second baseman Jordan Davis had the Tigers other hit, a booming double off the center field fence to lead off the fourth. But she never moved off second base.

"We've been up and down all season," said West coach Heather Suca, who thought her team could have been charged with more than the four errors. "We have to make the plays on defense. The girls have to want the ball and expect it to come to them.

"But Joliet Catholic certainly came out ready to play and did a good job with their short game."

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