Battle Of Three-Hitters Goes To
Yorkville
Yorkville
Lady Foxes Cash In Big On Six Somonauk Errors ...
| Northern Illinois Sports Beat http://www.northernillinoissportsbeat.com |
By Bill Lidinsky
Northern Illinois Sports Beat Contributor
YORKVILLE - For the first three innings on Friday evening, Somonauk freshman pitcher
Jessica Schultz and Yorkville senior hurler Maxine Bieritz were hooked up in a dandy
softball pitching duel under the lights at Yorkville’s American Legion Field.
Both had allowed only one hit while each had struck out three opposing batters in what
seemed like a game that would go down to the wire with a mere run or two deciding the
outcome.
But that wouldn’t be the case.
Despite both girls allowing only three hits apiece throughout the contest, Bieritz had an
important part of the game behind her that Schultz didn’t, and that was defense.
From the fourth through the sixth innings, the Somonauk defense imploded behind
Schultz committing six errors (two each frame) that led to a whopping seven unearned
runs and ultimately a 7-1 Yorkville victory.
Schultz obviously got rattled during the defensive meltdown, as she walked four batters.
But she deserved a better fate with the three hit effort and the Lady Foxes were more
than happy to take advantage of her misfortune.
Meanwhile, Bieritz got stronger as the game wore on. At one point she retired 14
consecutive batters before the Lady Bobcats finally broke the ice with a run on two hits in
the seventh inning. But overall, Bieritz was stellar striking out ten and walking only one
with her defense sharp as a tack behind her less one harmless miscue.
“I feel like I’ve been in control in a lot of my games this year, but this probably tops all of
the games this year that I’ve pitched,” Bieritz said. “Tonight I had my best control and my
best dominance over the batters. Somonauk’s a very good team and very competitive so I’
m proud of my game tonight. I also got some nice defense from my teammates to help me
out.
“We can’t make six errors and expect to win a ballgame. It just isn’t going to work,” said
Somonauk co-head coach Scott Siuda. “Credit their pitcher (Bieritz) for throwing a good
ballgame, but we never gave our pitcher a chance. Yorkville’s a solid team, but we really
helped them out tonight, didn’t we?”
The defense started to unravel for the Lady Bobcats in the bottom of the fourth.
Two booted infield balls led to three unearned Yorkville runs that culminated with Allison
Haskins RBI single and a 3-0 lead after four innings.
“After those first two errors it was a key for us. We hit the ball hard and we were fortunate
that they didn’t make the plays,” Yorkville oach Kathi Dockstader said. “Somonauk has a
nice ballclub and their pitcher (Schultz) is very good and she was tonight. But errors are a
part of the game and we took advantage of them tonight.”
Yorkville (13-15) would plate another unearned run courtesy of two more Somonauk
miscues in the fifth to go up 4-0. Devin Turner’s sacrifice fly scored Sonja Gilbertson as
the Lady Foxes seized the momentum.
They would add three more unearned tallies in the sixth as the Lady Bobcats dropped two
outfield fly balls – the last of which came with two outs and the bases loaded. All three
Yorkville runners were moving on the pitch and came home safely on the play to make the
score 7-0.
“I’m not trying to make excuses but this was our first game under the lights. I’m not sure if
our outfielders had trouble with the lights, I just don’t know,” said Somonauk co-head
coach Darvil Hayes. “Our outfielders are normally very solid. I think we had three dropped
balls for errors tonight and that’s pretty unusual for us. But give Yorkville credit. They put
the ball in play and we didn’t make routine plays when we needed to.”
Somonauk (20-6) would finally touch Bieritz for a run in the top of the seventh. Jordan
Smith led off with a double and scored two outs later on Megan Cry’s RBI single to right
field. But it couldn’t come close to overcoming the multitude of miscues as the Lady
Bobcats suffered only their sixth defeat of the season.
Schultz (19-4) was tabbed with the loss; still one shy of the 20-win plateau. She’ll get a
chance at the milestone on Saturday when Somonauk hosts Paw Paw. With a win, the
Lady Bobcats can secure the 2010 Little Ten Conference Championship in their final
regular season game before Class 1A regionals start on Monday, May 17. Yorkville still
has one week left of the Class 3A regular season grind.
“We need to regroup because we’ve got the conference championship on the line
tomorrow and then we’ve got regionals on Tuesday,” Siuda said. “We’ve got to start
playing better ball now and get ourselves back to where we were. If we play like this in the
playoffs, we’ll be going home early.”
Bill Lidinsky is a Northern Illinois Sports Beat contributor. He can be reached in care of
NISB at Northernillinoissportsbeat@yahoo.com. --- Talk about what's written on our
Message Boards!
Northern Illinois Sports Beat Contributor
YORKVILLE - For the first three innings on Friday evening, Somonauk freshman pitcher
Jessica Schultz and Yorkville senior hurler Maxine Bieritz were hooked up in a dandy
softball pitching duel under the lights at Yorkville’s American Legion Field.
Both had allowed only one hit while each had struck out three opposing batters in what
seemed like a game that would go down to the wire with a mere run or two deciding the
outcome.
But that wouldn’t be the case.
Despite both girls allowing only three hits apiece throughout the contest, Bieritz had an
important part of the game behind her that Schultz didn’t, and that was defense.
From the fourth through the sixth innings, the Somonauk defense imploded behind
Schultz committing six errors (two each frame) that led to a whopping seven unearned
runs and ultimately a 7-1 Yorkville victory.
Schultz obviously got rattled during the defensive meltdown, as she walked four batters.
But she deserved a better fate with the three hit effort and the Lady Foxes were more
than happy to take advantage of her misfortune.
Meanwhile, Bieritz got stronger as the game wore on. At one point she retired 14
consecutive batters before the Lady Bobcats finally broke the ice with a run on two hits in
the seventh inning. But overall, Bieritz was stellar striking out ten and walking only one
with her defense sharp as a tack behind her less one harmless miscue.
“I feel like I’ve been in control in a lot of my games this year, but this probably tops all of
the games this year that I’ve pitched,” Bieritz said. “Tonight I had my best control and my
best dominance over the batters. Somonauk’s a very good team and very competitive so I’
m proud of my game tonight. I also got some nice defense from my teammates to help me
out.
“We can’t make six errors and expect to win a ballgame. It just isn’t going to work,” said
Somonauk co-head coach Scott Siuda. “Credit their pitcher (Bieritz) for throwing a good
ballgame, but we never gave our pitcher a chance. Yorkville’s a solid team, but we really
helped them out tonight, didn’t we?”
The defense started to unravel for the Lady Bobcats in the bottom of the fourth.
Two booted infield balls led to three unearned Yorkville runs that culminated with Allison
Haskins RBI single and a 3-0 lead after four innings.
“After those first two errors it was a key for us. We hit the ball hard and we were fortunate
that they didn’t make the plays,” Yorkville oach Kathi Dockstader said. “Somonauk has a
nice ballclub and their pitcher (Schultz) is very good and she was tonight. But errors are a
part of the game and we took advantage of them tonight.”
Yorkville (13-15) would plate another unearned run courtesy of two more Somonauk
miscues in the fifth to go up 4-0. Devin Turner’s sacrifice fly scored Sonja Gilbertson as
the Lady Foxes seized the momentum.
They would add three more unearned tallies in the sixth as the Lady Bobcats dropped two
outfield fly balls – the last of which came with two outs and the bases loaded. All three
Yorkville runners were moving on the pitch and came home safely on the play to make the
score 7-0.
“I’m not trying to make excuses but this was our first game under the lights. I’m not sure if
our outfielders had trouble with the lights, I just don’t know,” said Somonauk co-head
coach Darvil Hayes. “Our outfielders are normally very solid. I think we had three dropped
balls for errors tonight and that’s pretty unusual for us. But give Yorkville credit. They put
the ball in play and we didn’t make routine plays when we needed to.”
Somonauk (20-6) would finally touch Bieritz for a run in the top of the seventh. Jordan
Smith led off with a double and scored two outs later on Megan Cry’s RBI single to right
field. But it couldn’t come close to overcoming the multitude of miscues as the Lady
Bobcats suffered only their sixth defeat of the season.
Schultz (19-4) was tabbed with the loss; still one shy of the 20-win plateau. She’ll get a
chance at the milestone on Saturday when Somonauk hosts Paw Paw. With a win, the
Lady Bobcats can secure the 2010 Little Ten Conference Championship in their final
regular season game before Class 1A regionals start on Monday, May 17. Yorkville still
has one week left of the Class 3A regular season grind.
“We need to regroup because we’ve got the conference championship on the line
tomorrow and then we’ve got regionals on Tuesday,” Siuda said. “We’ve got to start
playing better ball now and get ourselves back to where we were. If we play like this in the
playoffs, we’ll be going home early.”
Bill Lidinsky is a Northern Illinois Sports Beat contributor. He can be reached in care of
NISB at Northernillinoissportsbeat@yahoo.com. --- Talk about what's written on our
Message Boards!
At American Leigon Field,
Yorkville
Yorkville 7, Somonauk 1
Somonauk (1) – E. Paull cf 3-
0-0-0, Smith 2b 3-1-1-0, H.
Paull rf 3-0-0-0, Brummel dp
2-0-0-0, Cyr ss 3-0-2-1,
Schultz p 3-0-0-0, Croy c 2-0-
0-0, Stearns 3b 2-0-0-0,
Kawall lf 2-0-0-0, Keenan 1b
0-0-0-0. Totals 23-1-3-1.
Yorkville (7) – Gilbertson cf 3-
1-0-0, Turner lf 3-1-1-1,
Conaway ss 3-0-0-0, Kuhn
2b 2-0-0-0, Adam c 3-1-1-0,
Bieritz p 3-0-0-0, Miller cr 0-1-
0-0, Lopez cr 0-1-0-0,
Haskins 3b 2-1-1-1, Nawa 1b
3-0-0-0, Young rf 2-1-0-0.
Totals 24-7-3-2.
Somonauk 000 000 1 – 1 3 6
Yorkville 000 313 x – 7 3 1
LOB – Somonauk 2; Yorkville
5. 2B – Smith. SB Cyr,
Gilbertson, Adam 2, Haskins.
SAC – Conaway. SF – Turner.
Somonauk ip r er h bb k
Schultz (L, 19-4) 6 7 0 3 4 5
Yorkville
Bieritz (W) 7 1 1 3 1 10
Records: Somonauk (20-6),
Yorkville (13-15).
Yorkville
Yorkville 7, Somonauk 1
Somonauk (1) – E. Paull cf 3-
0-0-0, Smith 2b 3-1-1-0, H.
Paull rf 3-0-0-0, Brummel dp
2-0-0-0, Cyr ss 3-0-2-1,
Schultz p 3-0-0-0, Croy c 2-0-
0-0, Stearns 3b 2-0-0-0,
Kawall lf 2-0-0-0, Keenan 1b
0-0-0-0. Totals 23-1-3-1.
Yorkville (7) – Gilbertson cf 3-
1-0-0, Turner lf 3-1-1-1,
Conaway ss 3-0-0-0, Kuhn
2b 2-0-0-0, Adam c 3-1-1-0,
Bieritz p 3-0-0-0, Miller cr 0-1-
0-0, Lopez cr 0-1-0-0,
Haskins 3b 2-1-1-1, Nawa 1b
3-0-0-0, Young rf 2-1-0-0.
Totals 24-7-3-2.
Somonauk 000 000 1 – 1 3 6
Yorkville 000 313 x – 7 3 1
LOB – Somonauk 2; Yorkville
5. 2B – Smith. SB Cyr,
Gilbertson, Adam 2, Haskins.
SAC – Conaway. SF – Turner.
Somonauk ip r er h bb k
Schultz (L, 19-4) 6 7 0 3 4 5
Yorkville
Bieritz (W) 7 1 1 3 1 10
Records: Somonauk (20-6),
Yorkville (13-15).
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