Plainfield South gets past Downers South

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Alyssa Schrader struck out Downers Grove South star Brooke Andresen looking with two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning as Plainfield South beat the Mustangs 3-1 to win the Class 4A Neuqua Valley Regional championship Saturday.

Andresen (3-for-5), who had struck out only five times all year, had doubled in her two previous at-bats, but Schrader froze her with a fastball on the inside corner on a 2-2 count.

"We knew she was the No. 1 hitter, but you can’t let the past games or the prior at-bats get in your head," said Schrader, a Carthage recruit. "You’ve got to keep focused on that time and that place and we were able to do that. We jammed her inside and it worked."

The Cougars (24-8), who won back-to-back regional titles for the first time, took a 1-0 lead in the eighth when Krista Matsui singled and later scored on a two-out error. Downers South (25-7), which had eliminated Plainfield South the past two years, tied it on Andresen’s RBI double in the bottom of the inning.

A two-out error opened the door for the Cougars in the ninth, and the Northern Illinois-bound Matsui (3-for-4) was pitched around to load the bases for left fielder Jackie Frey. Frey lined a two-run single down the right-field line to score Lauren Walker and Melissa Reyes.

"I saw [Matsui walked] and it made me kind of mad and it gave me more confidence because I knew I could do it," said Frey, who also threw a runner out at home in the fourth. "[The pitch] looked right down the middle so I drove it. I wanted it so bad."

Schrader (19-5) gave up nine hits and two walks and struck out six. Karissa Habel took the loss despite giving up no earned runs and striking out nine.