Plainfield S. puts away Porters

Plainfield South's Melissa Reyes slides past Lockport's Samantha Stanicek to score the games first run in the top of the fifth inning.
(Michael R. Schmidt/Herald News)

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Plainfield South entered Thursday's Class 4A Bolingbrook Sectional semifinals seeking a pair of firsts.

One was to beat Lockport for the first time and the other was to earn its initial trip to a sectional championship game.

The Cougars accomplished both goals when they scored a run in the eighth to claim a 2-1 win over the No. 4 Porters.

Plainfield South (25-8) moves on to Saturday's 9 a.m. sectional finals where it meets up with Naperville Central (24-6).

Lockport (29-7), which was trying to reach its fourth sectional final in five years, edged the Cougars 1-0 when the two met on May 12.

"The last game against them was huge so I think we had an edge going into this one," Cougars coach Tara Singler said. "We felt like that first game slipped through our hands. So we came out here knowing that we could do it."

The Cougars got the game-winner in the eighth after Krista Matsui (3-for-4) scored from second on a close play following a single to center by Mary Giancarlo.

That made a winner out of starter Alyssa Schrader, who limited the Porters (29-7) to just four hits while striking out two in eight innings.

"It was a good game all the way around," Schrader said. "Knowing that we could stick with a good ball team like Lockport gave us confidence going into a big game like this one that we could get them the second time around."

The Porters threatened in the second inning when they loaded the bases with one out but Schrader worked out of the jam.

Plainfield South scored the game's first run in the top of the fifth inning as Matsui singled to left to drive in Melissa Reyes.

But Lockport answered with a run in its half of the fifth when Kayleigh Bertram doubled to left to score Rebecca Baltikas.

Allison Shimkus took the defeat after yielding six hits to the Cougars while striking out seven in eight innings of work.

"Alyssa Schrader did a great job by making us hit to their defense and they made some great plays," Porters coach Marissa Chovanec said. "After we saw them late in the season, we knew that this game could go either way."