Raiders fall in semifinals, will play for third

Third place still possible

Comments

June 12, 2009

By RANDY WHALEN For The Sun

EAST PEORIA -- Glenbard South's improbable run back to state hit a roadblock.

The Raiders couldn't take advantage of eight Chatham Glenwood errors and fell 4-2 in the Class 3A semifinals Friday afternoon at East Peoria.

Glenwood (28-8) advances to the title game for the first time since finishing second in Class AA in 1999. Glenbard South (24-13) will play in the third-place game for the second straight season.

"We had runners in scoring position quite a bit," Glenbard South coach Julie Fonda said. "But (Glenwood) got the timely outs and got themselves out of situations they had wedged themselves into."

The Titans scored a pair of runs in the top of the seventh to break a 2-2 tie. Alyssa Esperum delivered the big blow with a one-out RBI double to right center and Kaitlyn England (2 for 3, two RBIs) added a sacrifice fly.

Glenbard South loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the seventh on three straight errors, but the Titans got a pop out and a ground out to end it.

Trailing 2-0, the Raiders tied the game with a pair of runs in the fifth on an error and an RBI ground out by Jenny Wittenberg. However freshman second baseman Briana Meath, the potential go-ahead run, was thrown out at home on a ground ball. Fonda thought she was safe and Meath injured her right ankle on the play and had to leave the game.

"I saw her get under the tag," Fonda said. "I also saw the catcher not give her an inch of the plate.

"I don't know (Meath's) status for tomorrow. But if I had to put money on it, I know she'll do everything to be out there and I'll have to rip her off the field."

Senior center fielder Lauren Podgorski, who scored the tying run and had two of the Raiders six hits, dwelled on the positives.

"Yes, there were so many opportunities, but we could have hung our heads down 2-0 and we didn't," she said. "The first couple of innings we were nervous and flat, but we battled back and got two runs."

Glenwood got on the board in the fourth on a two-out, run-scoring infield single by Lauren Galloway. The Titans added an unearned run in the fifth when England ripped a two-out RBI single to left center.

Sophomore Jess Wilkes (14-6) took the loss. The righty allowed three earned runs on eight hits while walking one and striking out nine. The Raiders, who took third in 3A last year, also committed a pair of errors and stranded 10 runners, six in scoring position.

"This is a special group to me no matter what happens," Fonda said. "We opened the season 1-8, so it's special to get here."

"We have to bounce back and focus on third," Podgorski said. "Only teams that win the title or third get to finish on a win, and we want to do that."