Schapiro, Andrew bounce back for win

Andrew's Kate Mollohan (left) tries to catch the ball before Oak Forest's Haylee Swanson can slide into third base.
(Jason Han/SouthtownStar)

Font Size

Email

Bookmark

Black Text

White Text

Andrew junior pitcher Megan Schapiro tries to keep a short memory.

When Oak Forest senior slugger Amanda Sheppard smacked a three-run home run in the fifth inning to put the Bengals in front 4-3 on Saturday, Schapiro went right back to work and retired five batters in a row.

“It was a good hit that she had off of me,” Schapiro said later. “I mean, stuff like that is going to happen. You just have to shake it off, you know, and come back.”

They would meet again.

With Oak Forest down by two runs in the bottom of the seventh, Sheppard represented the potential tying run when she stepped to the plate with teammate Kristyne Smyth (double) on base and one out. Schapiro fired two straight strikes, and then ... another smack!

This time, it was a hot one-hopper to the first-base side of the mound.

Schapiro snared it, froze the baserunner and threw Sheppard out at first.

She then retired Alyssa Prucak on a groundout to second baseman Kelly McGrail to end the game, an 8-6 nonconference win for Andrew in Oak Forest.

Julie Love had three hits, and Katie Christner and Sarah Bernak had two each for Andrew (6-1). Kate Mollohan had the game-deciding hit for the Thunderbolts, a two-run double in the top of the seventh inning that put them ahead 7-4.

Smyth, whose double in the bottom of the seventh drove in two for the Bengals (8-1), was 2-for-4.

The victory was the sixth in a row for Andrew, which started the season with a shocking 11-2 loss to Marian Catholic.

“We had a rough start,” Mollohan said. “We didn’t communicate in that game, and we’ve been starting to communicate a lot better since then. That’s helped us defensively a lot. It’s coming around.”

The Thunderbolts turned two double plays in support of starting pitcher Breanne McGee. The most impressive came in the third inning, when catcher Alex Washkowiak wound up tagging out two runners on one play.

“We haven’t been consistent, but we’ve been slowly putting games together,” Andrew coach Jim Holba said. “Our motto has been to keep getting better every game and start showing off the ability that we have. We showed a lot of offensive potential today against a good pitcher (Emily Norton), our pitching was solid and, defensively, we showed some ability.”

Oak Forest coach Paige Stryczek couldn’t say the same, especially when it came to the defense. The Bengals committed four official errors. Plus, there was a critical misplay with two outs in the top of the seventh when a soft fly by Bernak dropped between left fielder Haylee Swanson and center fielder Amy Zalud. Mollohan followed with the two-run double, and she scored when Washkowiak reached on an error at short by Sheppard.

“We fought hard in the end, but in order to beat good teams, you have to be firing on all cylinders < offense, defense and pitching,” Stryczek said. “We hit the ball hard, sure, but to give up eight runs means two things didn’t go well. Emily didn’t have everything, and our defense didn’t back her up.

“It’s unfortunate, but Andrew’s a good team. They hit the ball hard. I’ve got to give credit where credit is due. We just hope that we play better tomorrow.”