Joliet Catholic rallies past Providence

Updated: May 4, 2011 11:17PM

The comeback against the longtime rival was special enough.

But whatever positive feeling the Joliet Catholic softball team generated with Wednesday’s 8-6 East Suburban Catholic victory over Providence, that went double for pitcher Mallory Goulding.

The Angels, after suffering an 11-1 beating Monday at Providence, battled out of 4-0 and 5-2 holes this time.

Goulding, who transferred to Joliet Catholic from Providence for her senior year, was not perfect Wednesday, but pitched with a resolve that indicated how much a victory meant.

“Yeah, that’s my old team,” she said. “It’s really good to get one against them. This makes our week a lot better.”

Joliet Catholic (16-6, 5-4) found itself in a rut early, similar to Monday’s game. The Angels failed to make some plays in the infield and fell behind 4-0 as the Celtics (11-11, 6-5) scored four in the second inning — and could have had more.

“We scored four and still had the bases loaded,” Providence coach Jay Biesterfeld noted. “We could have scored six, seven, eight runs that inning. We had an opportunity to bury them and didn’t do it.”

Angels coach Dave Douglas’ early concern was Goulding’s split toenail. She was struck with a smash off the bat of Kelly Engwall leading off Providence’s second.

Goulding survived the toe issue and rocky inning and allowed two runs on five hits over the final five innings.

Joliet Catholic began its comeback against Celtics left-hander Amanda Wilson with a two-out rally in the third. Alyssa Fehrenbacher and Tori Johnson singled, moved up on an error and scored on Kayla Borgra’s two-run single.

After Providence went up 5-2 in the fourth, the Angels scored four in the bottom of the inning to take a lead they never would relinquish.

The Angels scored two more in the sixth to lead 8-5. Tara Airola homered for Providence in the seventh to make it 8-6, and the Celtics had the tying runs on base when Goulding retired Ilana Primack to end it. Primack had three of Providence’s nine hits, Allie Strick and Courtney Pych two each.

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