South Central rolls, Westville falls short

Updated: May 24, 2011 11:08PM

The South Central Satellites are in the Triton Class A softball sectional final after beating the Argos Dragons 12-2 to get there.

But the Westville-Triton matchup was the game of the night, with an aggressive Triton getting to hard-throwing Ashley Henrich for five runs in the first three innings.

The Blackhawks tied the game in the bottom of the third, then tied it again in the fifth at 6-6.

But Triton added three in the sixth to make it 9-6, and Westville just couldn’t rally again.

“We faced them last year in the sectional and I knew if we didn’t score some runs early, we wouldn’t be able to get the runs we needed,” Triton coach Steve McBride said. “We needed to go after Henrich, she is such a great pitcher, and they are such a good defensive team.”

Shawna Ramer missed much of the game due to competing in a regional track meet and both coaches felt Westville missing Ramer was a big factor. McBride said that after Ramer entered the game, she gave the Blackhawks a big lift, and Westville coach Gary Dick said that he had to juggle his lineup without Ramer.

“We ran into a good team, and they were well prepared, we just couldn’t get those late scores we needed,” Dick said. “I thought Ashley got stronger as the game went on.”

The Blackhawks exit the tourney with a 19-4 record.

Haley Bauer and Madisyn Walter combined for a six-hitter in the first game in leading the Satellites to a four-and-a-half inning victory.

Bauer struck out three of four batters in the first inning, but the Dragons scored two runs in the second with Bauer allowing four singles. And when she started the third frame with a walk, Satellites coach Rich Patterson had seen enough and he brought in Walter, who allowed just one hit the rest of the way.

“Haley started out beautiful, she struck out three of the first four batters; but when they scored two in the second, and she allowed that walk, I brought in Matty, and she did a great job,” Patterson said.

But the pitching was secondary after his team did plenty of offensive damage in the first two innings, scoring four in the first, and five in the bottom of the second. They added two runs in the fourth on a Kayla Pritchard and Bauer single.

The Satellites(17-11) added their 12th run on a Jessica Sturdy RBI in the fourth, and Walter didn’t allow a hit in the top of the fifth to seal the win.

© 2012 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed without permission. For more information about reprints and permissions, visit www.suntimesreprints.com. To order a reprint of this article, click here.