Lyons roars past Oswego East

Updated: May 25, 2011 9:53PM

The Lyons softball team isn’t used to traveling west, but so far the Lions are pleased with what their travels have brought them.

Sixth-seeded Lyons did all its damage in the third and fourth innings in an 8-3 win over No. 11 Oswego East Wednesday in the West Aurora Class 4A Regional semifinal.

“We rarely come out this way, but we knew they were a good team — not much else,” Lyons coach Dawn Schabacker said. “We knew we had to play good defense and offense and put it all together.”

With the win, Lyons (17-15) will take on No. 3 Naperville Central (23-10) in the regional final Saturday at 11 a.m.

“We are going to have to put our best effort on the field [against Naperville Central],” Schabacker said. “Naperville [Central] has always been a good program. They have good hitters and they do things well. They execute and they feed off each other. I think it will be a good game if both teams play to their potential. We are looking forward to playing for a regional championship.”

The Lions scored four runs on four hits in the third. Karen Caithamer drew a bases-loaded walk that allowed Becky Rykman to score after she led off with a single. Alyssa Koziol, Alyssa Smith and Caithamer scored on a three-run double from Casey Witt with two outs.

Oswego East scored a run in the fourth on a Dana Schwartz two-out RBI single that brought home Julia Johnson after she led off with a walk.

Lyons got another four runs across in the bottom of the inning, thanks to a series of Oswego East errors and an RBI single from Caithamer.

The Wolves fired back in the fifth, when Bri Wright hit a two-run single with no outs. Brittany Russell led off when she reached on a Lyons error. Brittany Warnecke followed that with a double. Both ended up scoring.

“We never gave up,” Oswego East coach Danielle Lee said. “We are a fighting team both on the field and off the field.”

Morgan Ettinger allowed 10 hits, four strikeouts and one walk for the Wolves. Koziol allowed eight hits, six strikeouts and three walks for the Lions.

“I thought [Koziol] did a really nice job today,” Schabacker said. “She was moving the ball around really well. I was very, very happy with the way she performed.”

Oswego East finished the year 15-17 overall.

“I’m very proud of the seniors for putting solid building blocks for the program,” Lee said. “We are very proud of everyone. They fought through a lot of adversity and, just like in today’s game, they never gave up. That’s important. We had five one-run losses ... we are a good, quality team. One day the ball will bounce our way.”

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