Flanagan delivers with bat, glove for Oak Park

Updated: May 27, 2011 8:48PM

Erin Flanagan delivered at the right time for Oak Park-River Forest with her bat and glove.

The senior outfielder had the game-winning RBI in the top of the seventh inning and made a diving, tumbling grab in right field in the bottom of the seventh as the 10th-seeded Huskies upset seventh-seeded Fenwick with a 2-0 victory Friday in the Class 4A OPRF Regional semifinal.

Sarafina Andreoli allowed seven hits and struck out 10 batters as the Huskies (10-21) earned their first shutout of the season. Fenwick defeated OPRF 4-2 on April 5 in the first meeting of the season between the neighborhood rivals. That game was also played at OPRF.

The Huskies will play second-seeded Mother McAuley at 11 a.m. Saturday in the regional final. The two teams were scheduled to meet April 4, but the game was cancelled.

Fenwick (15-18) had the better opportunities to break a scoreless tie through six innings, but the Huskies scored twice in the seventh off losing pitcher Kerry Lange, who allowed 11 hits and had four strikeouts.

“I’ve been waiting for it all year,” Flanagan said about the go-ahead RBI. “I don’t know, I was just going up to the plate and thought, ‘No way is this going to be my last game. I’m a senior’ ’’

Flanagan drove in reserve Becky Barron, who singled to left field in her only at-bat and then stole second base. Flanagan hit a blooper to left center on a 1-1 count. OPRF’s next batter, Maureen Puccetti, added an insurance run when she doubled to center field to score Flanagan. All of the Huskies’ runs came with two outs.

Barron entered as a pinch-runner for Designated Player Jasmine Davis in the fifth, but Barron did not score. Barron, a senior, has started in only a few games this season.

“It feels really good. I just got put in before that at-bat,” Barron said. “My dilemma was to just get on base.”

Andreoli struck out the side in the second inning and allowed only one runner to reach second base in the first four innings. In the fifth, Fenwick nearly scored after Marisa Wakely singled and courtesy runner Jenna Cairo was sacrificed to second. Ashley Parenti hit a two-out single up the middle, but center fielder Emily Bacalao threw out Cairo at the plate to end the inning.

Flanagan was playing center field earlier in the game, but switched positions with Bacalao. In the seventh, Wakely singled again, but Flanagan made the second out when she dove to snag Carly Kenny’s blooper near the right field line. Andreoli struck out Sam Carzoli to end the game.

“There was a lot of pressure to hold them until the last inning,” Andreoli said. “I didn’t want it to get into extra innings.”

Fenwick coach Jen Butler said Andreoli’s rise ball led to her team’s high strikeout totals. The Friars were also unable to get down timely bunts and had only two successful sacrifices.

“We chased her rise ball. We couldn’t lay off it,” Butler said. “In the first game, we laid off it and found pitches in our zone. We had nerves too today. That didn’t help at all.”

The loss ended the careers for four Fenwick senior starters: Natalie Moratta, Samantha Borawski, Lange and Kenny. Moratta, a shortstop, was one of the team’s hitting leaders with an average near .355.

“She was a solid presence on offense and defense,” Butler said. “She was calm under pressure. Nothing rattled her.”

OPRF is guaranteed its first losing season under 19-year coach Mel Kolbusz. The Huskies have never had a losing season before with Kolbusz as coach. OPRF went 18-17 in 1998.

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