Freshman ace Kowalski fuels DeKalb

Updated: May 30, 2011 8:58PM

A lot of times in softball you can point to a lack of hitting, or ineffective pitching, or poor defense. Or maybe a specific play or a myriad of other reasons for losing a game.

But there was really only one reason South Elgin lost to DeKalb on Saturday in its Class 4A regional title game.

The Barbs were simply the better team. The Storm’s season came to an end with a 6-2 defeat.

“It’s pretty hard to be upset,” said South Elgin coach Jason Schaal. “I mean, I’m upset that our season is over, but it would be one thing if we had played poorly or made a lot of mistakes. But we didn’t. I thought we played pretty well. They just played better. That’s the way athletics are sometimes.”

The Storm is not the first team to fall victim to DeKalb’s freshman ace Katie Kowalski, who improved to 23-2, and fared better than most. The Storm managed five hits and coaxed three walks, but runs were hard to come by.

South Elgin did get off to a good start when Katelyn Stonecipher led off the bottom of the first inning with a double and later scored on sacrifice fly from Shannon Conway to give the Storm a 1-0 lead.

The lead vanished in the third inning when Dani Thibault blasted a two-run homer off Storm pitcher Sam Bolin to put DeKalb ahead 2-1. The Barbs continued to tack on to the lead with a run in each of the next four innings.

The Storm did have some chances, including the fourth inning when it pushed across another run to trim the DeKalb lead to 4-2. Alyssa Buddle roped an RBI single to score Stonecipher. However, South Elgin left runners stranded on first and third base.

The Storm had runners on base in every other inning except the seventh. In the third inning Brittany Koss led off with a double, but advanced no further as Kowalski got the three batters on a groundout and a pair of strikeouts.

The Storm had another rally brewing in the sixth inning with runners on first and third with just one out. But that came to an abrupt end when Koss lined out to short and Taylor Rees was doubled off third base.

“(Kowalski) is a tough pitcher,” said Schaal. “Once they got the lead she kind of took over. We tried to put some pressure on her. We had some runners on base. But nothing seems to rattle her. Whenever it looked like we had a chance to get to her she just battled through.”

Stonecipher and Buddle each had two hits for the Storm. Stonecipher scored both runs. Bolin took the loss. She surrendered 11 hits but did not walk a batter. She finished the season with a record of 16-12. The Storm finished 21-15.

“Overall it was a great season for us,” said Schaal. “We only start two seniors. So to win 20-plus games and get to the regional final game is a nice accomplishment for such a young team.”

Stonecipher is one of four seniors leaving. She set career records in five different categories for the Storm.

“Overall it was a good season for us,” said Stonecipher. “We had a lot of younger players step up for us and contribute. I just really proud of all my teammates.”

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