Oh, yes, a real slugfest

ELGIN -- At the start of the week, Lincoln-Way Central High School's softball team couldn't score a run, but by the end of the week it was putting runs on the board in bunches.

The Knights drove that point home at Saturday's Larkin Slugfest after rolling to 3 easy victories, capped off by an 8-0 win over Plainfield Central in the title game.

Lincoln-Way Central dropped 1-0 decisions to Bradley and Lincoln-Way East earlier in the week, but it has bounced back with 50 runs during 5 straight victories.

That total was boosted by a 31-1 scoring advantage in Saturday's tournament, where the Knights also beat Palatine 12-1 and Larkin 11-0 in 5-inning games.

It marks the third straight year that the Knights (15-5) captured the Slugfest title, including the second year in a row they beat the Wildcats (16-2) in the finals.

"After we lost those two games, we talked to the girls about trying to make the adjustments according to the count and anticipating every pitch," Knights coach Dick Mandella said. "Since then, we've gotten a lot of first-pitch hits.

"We were good in every facet of our game in all 3 games. Whether it was bunting, hitting, base running, fielding and pitching, there wasn't an area we weren't good at today. But I told the girls that we still need to get better."

In the finals, the Knights got the only runs they needed when they scored twice in the first inning. They added 3 more runs in both the fifth and sixth innings as all 9 starters had hits.

Jackie Dugan picked up the victory after tossing a 3-hitter while striking out 11 and retiring 14 straight batters at one point.

"We were struggling a little bit with our hitting earlier this week, but everyone on the team stepped up," Dugan said. "This weekend really brought out the best in our team.

"I had the right mindset coming in, my defense was a big part of it and the hitting obviously helped give me confidence on the mound. I'm really proud of all of the girls."

In the first, Cassie Redman was hit by a pitch, took second on a sacrifice by Rachel Larson (2 RBIs) and scored on a double by Gabe Gavoni (3-for-4, 2 runs), who came home on a sacrifice fly by Brittnie Boerema (3 RBIs).

Dugan worked out of trouble in the bottom of the first after Stephanie Kirkpatrick hit a ground-rule double and then got to third base with no outs but was unable to score.

The Knights broke things open in the fifth inning when Dugan led off with a homer to right and Boerema later doubled in Gavoni and Courtney Dunker.

They closed the scoring in the next inning when Gina Brown led off with a homer to left and Larson hit a 2-run homer to left to bring in Amanda Rafferty.

"We've been working really hard on our hitting game since we knew that had been a problem," Larson said. "So we wanted to come out hitting like we had been.

"It's awesome to have everyone contribute since it makes the team so much stronger. I think this will give us confidence that we can go through times like this."

Plainfield Central overcame a 4-0 deficit to claim a 6-5 victory over the Knights when the teams met on April 18 in a nonconference game in Plainfield.

The rematch almost didn't happen since the Wildcats let a 7-4 semifinal lead slip away in the seventh, but they rallied for a 9-8 win over Chatham Glenwood.

"They just flat outplayed us today so I give them all of the credit," Wildcats coach Anne Campbell said. "They're a great hitting team and they hit the ball like crazy today. We got them last time out and they got us this time.

"We tried to give the semifinal game away, but I'm proud our kids didn't quit and came back. It was a tough day with the wind and the cold. But we have a lot of kids who are still learning, so I'm proud of how they played."

In the semifinals, Lincoln-Way Central rolled past Palatine as winning pitcher Gavoni (3-for-3) and Dunker each drove in 3 runs.

Taylor Tooley hit two inside-the-park homers, while Kirkpatrick also had one to make a winner of Brittany Adcox in their exciting semifinal win.

The Knights received home runs from Noel Harmon, Boerema, Brown, Dunker and Larson in their opening-round win over Larkin.

And the Wildcats won 10-0 over Hersey as Tooley and Kirkpatrick both had inside-the-park home runs, while Julia Fink picked up the victory.