Kosola blast ignites L-Way East

FRANKFORT -- A skinny girl hit a fat pitch a long way.

And, right about then, everybody in the Lincoln-Way East High School softball camp was thinking, "Whoa, Nellie."

Senior center fielder Nellie Kosola continued to deliver 4A postseason excitement for the Griffins in a 2-0 sectional semifinal victory over Stagg on Thursday afternoon at Lincoln-Way North. Her two-out double into the left-center field gap rolled all the way to the fence and scored Caroline Calabrese to break a 0-0 deadlock between the Southwest Suburban Conference rivals in the bottom of the fifth inning.

Calabrese reached seconds earlier on a bloop single to center. Kosola had been tied up on inside pitches in her first two at-bats against Stagg starter Ashley Yaros.

The result: Kosola reached on an error in the bottom of the first and grounded to short in the third. She was looking for another inside pitch when she stepped in to face Yaros (17-11) again in the fifth.

Kosola was pleasantly surprised when Yaros' first offering veered off target and over the middle of the plate.

"I think she just threw it down the middle that time," Kosola said. "And I just ripped at the first pitch."

Kosola scored after Jill Reid grounded an infield single up the middle. Stagg's Lauren Poskus made a diving stop on the ball to prevent it from trickling into shallow center field.

Poskus picked herself up and fired the ball to third in a bid to catch Kosola off guard. Instead, Kosola broke for home and beat the return throw to make it 2-0.

Given a cushion to work with, East junior Caitlin Santefort (22-3) put the finishing touches on a four-hit shutout, but not without surviving a close call in the top of the sixth. Stagg put runners on first and third with two outs. Poskus stepped in to face Santefort and worked the count to 3-0.

Santefort's next pitch was a riseball that sailed over the head of East catcher Megan Butler. The ball kicked off the backstop and back to Butler. She flipped an underhanded toss to Santefort, who had raced in to cover home. Santefort put the tag on Stagg's Lea LaSota for an inning-ending 2-1 putout.

The Chargers (23-13) put runners on second and third with one out in the second and loaded the bases with two outs in the third but were unable to come up with a big hit to rattle Santefort. She struck out seven and walked four.

"I usually keep the same mentality, that no one is going to score on us," Santefort said. "And I know that our defense will make the plays. So, I usually don't get anxious or anything when people get on base."

East (25-4) moves on to face Sandburg -- another familiar foe -- at 11 a.m. Saturday in the sectional championship game. Sandburg beat Marist 1-0 on Wednesday behind the pitching of Brittany Gardner. Gardner blanked East 2-0 when the SWSC rivals met in a crossover game on April 17.

"We're ready to see them again," Santefort said. "I remember their one run was a line drive over the fence (Jess Perkins connected for a solo homer)."

Stagg dropped a 4-3 regular-season decision to East and was looking to settle that score.

"We had a ton of opportunities," Chargers coach Jen Tyrell said. "We couldn't get the clutch hit. They made it count when they needed it. Nellie (Kosola) is a great hitter. We didn't exactly pitch to her like we wanted to, but she got a hold of one and drove it. That's the team all year that I thought would be the Southland's best opportunity to do something at state.

"I just think they're really complete, and I think Caitlin Santefort is one of the best players in the entire area. They have good coaching. And they have offense and defense. They really have the whole package."

Kosola, a Grand Valley State recruit, smacked a two-run double in the third inning of East's 4-3 victory over Providence Catholic on Saturday in the regional final at Providence. She gives the Griffins a combination of power and speed in the leadoff slot.

"I love having Nellie in that position," East coach Katie Meader said. "From the Providence game, she came up with the big hit. I asked the team, 'Who wants to come up with the big hit?' We had more than enough opportunities. Nellie stepped up and she got it done. And Calabrese got it started for us.

"Coming off of this, I'm excited to see Sandburg on Saturday. Within our conference, being crossover teams, we've only had one opportunity to play them. So, definitely, there is the revenge factor. But, again, just like any other team in our conference, they are solid. They have a great pitcher. And they've been playing well the last couple of weeks, too."