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Bourg drives in winning runs for Tigers
Updated: April 25, 2011 6:28AM
A Lincoln-Way Central softball fan who yelled, "Let's get some insurance runs'' in the sixth inning didn't get his wish, but Joliet West senior Katie Bourg certainly did.
Trailing 2-1 Thursday in the bottom of the sixth, Joliet West capitalized on a couple infield errors before Bourg lined a single down the left-field line to drive in what proved to be the winning run in a 3-2 Southwest Suburban Blue victory for the host Tigers.
"That hit felt good,'' Bourg said after she and her teammates shouted an enthusiastic "1-2-3 Tigers" outside the dugout. "I haven't been hitting that well. I don't feel like I've been hitting as good as I used to.''
"She had the big hit,'' Joliet West coach Heather Suca said. "She needed it. Hopefully, it will give her some confidence.''
Bourg finished 2-for-3 and Julia Liceaga also was key to the victory with an RBI-groundout in the first and a leadoff single in the sixth to start the rally before the two infield errors.
"It was a very good comeback,'' Suca said. "It's a big win that we really needed. It was nice to see the girls pull it out at the end there, get the key hit when we needed it.''
Kayla Sorensen pitched the first three innings for Joliet West (5-9, 1-3), striking out four and yielding single runs in the second and third innings. Katie McKay blanked Lincoln-Way Central in the last four innings, striking out five and facing only 13 batters.
"I knew it was my turn to come in, it was my time to work,'' McKay said. "I had to bring everything I had. Today I did better on my location.''
"That was our game plan, to use both pitchers,'' Suca said. "Having a lefty and a righty, mixing it up, it worked out very well. It was probably one of our better pitching performances in the last six games.''
Lincoln-Way Central (5-6, 0-2) had only one hit in the last four innings. Colleen Hansen had an RBI-single in the second and Taylor Schroeder an RBI-double in the third.
"We had way too many strikeouts today, way too many,'' Lincoln-Way Central coach Steve Paulsen said. "We work all situations at our hitting practices. I was really disappointed with us offensively.''
Nicole Walshon pitched all six innings for Central and limited the late rally by retiring the last three batters in the sixth.
"I thought she did a real nice job,'' Paulsen said. "The umpire had a very wide strike zone. Nicole adjusted to it and worked the corners. But offensively we didn't adjust to his strike zone.''
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