Naperville Central takes down Lockport
LOCKPORT -- Lockport High School cleanup hitter Joe Martin took a rip at the first pitch and hit it a country mile.
In fact, he just missed nailing the press box at the softball field well beyond the left-field fence.
(Michael R. Schmidt/Staff Photographer)
(Michael R. Schmidt/Staff Photographer)
Unfortunately for the Porters, when you threaten the softball press box, you probably have hit a foul ball. That's all the potential grand-slam home run became, a loud strike.
Martin then grounded into a fielder's choice, and the fifth inning ended Thursday night with Lockport and Naperville Central tied 2-2.
The long foul ball turned out to be the last hurrah for the Porters' camp. Naperville scored twice in the sixth and two more in the seventh for a 6-2 semifinal victory and a berth in Saturday's 10 a.m. Class 4A Lockport Sectional against Providence Catholic, which beat Neuqua Valley 4-3 Wednesday.
"It was exciting for a second," said Lockport senior left-hander Jon Cisna (6-3), who took the loss but deserved better. "Joey really hit it, but then it went foul."
"We had the right guy up with the bases loaded and he got a pitch to hit, he just hooked it a bit," Lockport coach Stanicek said. "That could have changed the whole game."
Instead, Lockport (26-12), the No. 3 seed in the sectional, saw its season end at its home base, Ed Flink Field, while seventh-seeded Naperville Central (23-14) advances.
"We were on our home field and were the highest seed left in the sectional," Stanicek noted. "But their kid threw a nice game at us."
Their kid was senior right-hander Pat Kaminska, who allowed 6 hits and 2 walks while striking out 10. Cisna, Lockport's No. 3 hitter, not only had a first-inning double for the Porters' only extra-base hit, but he also received both walks Kaminska issued.
"He (Kaminska) has a little above-average fastball and a change that's outstanding," Stanicek said. "He gets you to start looking for the change and fastball gets quicker. We needed to put the fastball in play, hit it hard, more than we did."
"He was pretty good at mixing it up," Cisna said of Kaminska. "His change was good."
Cisna was dynamite on the mound as well, facing the minimum nine batters through three innings. But the Porters weren't doing much with Kaminska early on, either.
In the fourth, however, both offenses broke through. Naperville scored on a bad-hop single, a sacrifice, Matt Cmiel's RBI triple and Mark Mantucca's sacrificed fly for a 2-0 lead.
Kyle Billig reached on an error to open the bottom of the fourth for Lockport, and Cisna walked. Martin laid down a sacrifice, Nick Daniels singled in one run and Josh Marszalek tied it 2-2 with a perfectly executed suicide squeeze.
The momentum swung toward the Porters in the top of the fifth when the Redhawks filled the bases with nobody out on a single, sacrifice and error and a walk, but could not score as Cisna won the battle. He induced Wesley Webb to hit into a 3-2 fielder's choice and struck out Ben Lucas and Nick Linne, the 1-2 hitters in the order, to escape.
"Even though they hit the ball, it was going at people, and getting those two strikeouts when the bases were loaded was huge," said Cisna, who allowed 8 hits and struck out 6 in 5 1/3 innings.
"I thought Cisna pitched real well," Stanicek said. "He had good jump on his fastball and was throwing his breaking ball for strikes. For a few innings, that was as good as I've seen him.
"But this shows you the type of hitting team Naperville is, and they are incredibly hot right now, too."
After Cisna's escape in the top of the fifth, Rich Estes opened the bottom of the inning with the second of his three hits. But Kaminska picked him off. Ricky Guth then singled and Matt Skrzypiec was hit by a pitch. Billig rapped into a fielder's choice, leaving runners on first and third with two out and sending Cisna to the plate.
Naperville's strategy did not call for giving him anything to hit. The count went to 3-0 and Cisna took a hack but missed. "I figured I'd give it a try," he said. He then completed the walk to bring up Martin with the bases loaded.
First pitch -- right size, wrong shape. As Cisna said, "exciting for a second."
After Kaminska worked out of that jam, the Redhawks came up swinging. Following a groundout, four straight singles, plus an error, accounted for two runs and gave Naperville a 4-2 lead. That marked the end for the Ball State-bound Cisna, with sophomore right-hander Mike Grindstaff taking over and getting out of further trouble.
But after two were out in the top of the seventh, a single and error, an RBI single, another error and a wild pitch plated two insurance runs to account for the final score.
Estes' third single led off the bottom of the seventh, but three Kaminska strikeouts ended Lockport's season.
"We missed a couple of opportunities earlier and so did they," Stanciek said. "But they took advantage of their chances at the end. That's what you have to do.
"We knew this was going to be a tough sectional when you see a team like Lincoln-Way Central with a 19 seed, and it worked out that way. It always is sour at the end, but they (Redhawks) are hot right now, and their kid (Kaminska) pitched a nice game. We missed some opportunities early against him, then he got stronger as the game went on."
