Lincoln-Way East slips to Sandburg

FRANKFORT -- All season long the Lincoln-Way East High School softball team had showed a tenacity in finding ways to win.

It looked as if the Griffins would do it again on Saturday, but a late rally fell short and Sandburg held on for a 1-0 victory in the Class 4A Lincoln-Way North sectional final.

"I think I had two starters returning from last year and I'm nothing but super proud of these girls," East coach Katie Meader said. "They are a very special group and made my job easy. We ended as a top 16 team in the state and played great."

For the first five innings the Griffins weren't able to muster much off Sandburg ace Brittany Gardner. In that span the only East runners came on a pair of Eagles errors and a two-out single by senior right fielder Melissa Gunderson.

But East (25-5) was finally able to put together a threat in the sixth. Senior center fielder Nellie Kosola hit a shot of Gardner's glove that she beat out for a one-out single. After a strikeout junior third baseman Cheryl Sendzik lined a first pitch single to center.

But Gardner came up with another strikeout to end the inning.

Then in the top of the seventh, senior second baseman Monica Gray drilled an 0-2 pitch to right center for a leadoff double. After a strikeout, senior first baseman Alex Fjeldheim hit a looper that just tipped off the outstretched glove of Sandburg junior shortstop Emma Jarrell.

Gray had to hold to see if the ball was going to be caught and she stopped at third while Fjeldheim went to second on the throw in.

But once again Gardner came up huge with a five-pitch strikeout and then the junior lefty got the final out on a first pitch grounder to senior first baseman Ashley Ballard.

"For Monica Gray to come up with that hit was huge," Meader said. "I couldn't ask for anything more from a senior. We can't put the blame on any one situation. We had some opportunities to score and just didn't get it done."

Gardner (20-7) finished with 11 strikeouts, no walks and allowed 5 hits. East pitcher Cait Santefort (22-4) was equally as good. In six innings the junior righty gave up four hits, hit one, walked four and struck out 10.

However Santefort had some wildness in the first and that came back to haunt her.

Junior center fielder Morgan Biel led off the game with a single. She was sacrificed to second by Jarrell and went to third on a wild pitch. Then with two outs, sophomore second baseman Jess Perkins walked on five pitches. But the final pitch went wild and took an unreal bounce up over the backstop and into the pressbox allowing Biel to bounce home with the game's only run.