Hickey helps JCA 'hold' on, beat JT

JOLIET -- Home-plate collisions bring out the catcher's inner-child warrior, with Cleveland's Ray Fosse standing up to Cincinnati's Pete Rose as the most famous example. Joliet Catholic Academy junior Brianna Hickey passed the physical part of that test Tuesday.

On a two-out single in the bottom of the seventh inning by Joliet Township's Ashley Vanderhyden, Angels junior right fielder Jessica Tezak zoomed a strike better than Mark Buehrle to Hickey, who held on literally and figuratively as Steelmen baserunner Kellen Krupa barrelled right into her.

Duty called. She answered.

"I was hoping I would," said Hickey, whose plate putout clinched the shutout for Saint Xavier University-bound ace Amie Brown in a 4-0 nonconference softball victory at Joliet West. "I haven't had a play like that yet this year. But you have to hold on to the ball no matter what, even if they run into you."

Runs were as difficult to come by as running into Hickey for both JCA (17-6) and JT (7-18). However, the Angels inched ahead 1-0 in the top of the third on a string of three singles started by Hickey's grounder up the middle, and her hit-by-a-pitch sequence ignited the insurance overflow of a 3-run fifth.

A senior right-hander, Brown (14-3) did the rest, despite suffering from what JCA coach Dave Douglas dubbed "a bad, bad cold." She still struck out 7 in 7 innings, carrying a perfect game into the fourth and a no-hitter into the fifth before finishing with a 3-hitter and 5 walks. With help, she stranded 6.

Highlighting a sunny, warm, beautiful afternoon, Hickey heated up for JCA in the third with her single. She advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by senior third baseman Maile Corpus, gained third on a perfect bunt single by Tezak and scored on an RBI liner to center by senior shortstop Adriana Hughes -- all with one out.

Leadoff called. She answered.

"Basically, I wanted to at least get a hit to get a rally going," said Hickey, who closed 1-for-2. "Each of us contributed to win this game."

"That has been half our battle this year," Douglas said. "We haven't put three or four together and we've stranded a lot of baserunners, but today I thought we did a nice job. Brianna got the little base hit there and 'Teez' did a great job of getting the bunt down to keep the inning going."

The Angels' going, going, going like the Energizer Bunny reached a crescendo during the fifth. Junior pitcher Chloe Carroll (5-17) nailed No. 8 hitter Hickey and leadoff Tezak with errant pitches and walked Corpus to load the bases before departing with a sore elbow. She fanned 4.

Switching from shortstop, junior Jhavon Hamilton entered in relief, allowing a hit and a walk with a strikeout in 3 innings. JCA continued, though, in the fifth with an RBI groundout by sophomore first baseman Morgan Krisch and an RBI infield hit by senior outfielder Stefanie Churchwell. Her steal forced an error, scoring Hughes for the 4-0 edge.

"We have to take what we can get and do what we can do with it," Tezak said. "That's we do."

That was all the hitting JCA needed, too, with Corpus producing the lone multiples offensively with a pair of walks. The Angels complemented their 4 hits with defensive acumen, charted by Tezak's grab of a liner to right-center in the fourth and Hickey's webbing of a popped bunt and Churchwell's running catch of a scorched shot in the sixth.

Sophomore first baseman Colleen Cummings, junior outfielder Jessica Dodge and junior catcher Emily Sewing were the victims, respectively. Sewing's drive occurred after Brown walked the bases loaded and Cummings' rope stranded sophomore outfielder/shortstop Emma Plese, who walked and stole second.

It's called CEST.

Close every single time.

"Yeah, we hit the ball well with runners on and it seems like they were finding their gloves," said JT coach Laurie Markatos-Pappas, whose Steelmen are stuck in a 3-13 rut over the past 16 games. "We can't get discouraged by that. We have to keep playing ball, and we're going to come around. It's going to happen. We just have to stay positive on it."

"It's one of the things we've talked about," Douglas said. "We're getting toward that time of the year, state tournament time, and we want to attack everything -- don't let anything get into the gaps and catch every ball before it gets to the ground. I thought we did that and we played really good, solid defense."

Staying really patient at the plate, JT received walks from Hamilton, Plese, Cummings, Dodge and Vanderhyden -- the Steelmen's 1-2-3 and 8-9 hitters. Junior third baseman Kara Komp broke up Brown's no-hitter with a bunt single, while Krupa powered a shot through short and Vanderhyden, a senior outfielder, lined the finale single to right.

"We need to get all of our hitting together," Vanderhyden said. "We have to get that going all together. We can't turn it on and turn it off. We have to keep our hitting going the whole time, and I was hoping we would score there. She pretty much fired it."

Although Tezak provided the fire, Hickey's tag delivered the snuff. She also handled the ailing Brown, who battled to bag 61-of-106 sweaty pitches for strikes.

"Hickey had a big day back there," Douglas said. "Brownie' was trying to pitch through it, but the pitches and the at-bats were wearing her down. She struggled as much as she has in a while, and Hickey stayed back there and chased everything down. I was proud of her performance."

"She's always on her game," Hickey said of Brown. "I had to go out there, talk to her, calm her down and tell her things were OK. We wanted it to be like we were just back in the gym, pitching."

In that manner, the Angels were glad to have Hickey behind the plate, catching -- especially when Tezak's throw landed in the soft spot of her mitt as Krupa aggressively and cleanly hustled in an effort to snap the shutout.

It's called TEST.

Tough every single time.

"It doesn't matter," Hickey said. "You have to have two hands on the ball, get it down, and it's fun. As long as you don't get hurt, you're can't complain because it's part of the game, and I love it."