Softball: Evergreen Park's Putlak Fires No-Hitter in Regional Semifinal

Touching All the Bases: Evergreen Park junior pitcher Michelle Putlak got her Mustangs out on the right foot in the IHSA playoffs. Putlak threw a no-hitter Tuesday in a 10-0 victory over Rich East in a semifinal matchup in the Class 3A Evergreen Park Regional.

The Mustangs entered the contest on a roll, having won five straight, and confident in their ability of making some postseason noise. The first challenge for Evergreen Park is winning its own regional, and the Mustangs took care of business in Game 1 from the get-go.

Evergreen Park scored five runs in the bottom of the first inning, taking advantage of three Rich East errors.

Putlak was on cruise control. Her only blemish of the day came in the third inning, when she was unable to handle a bunt, and Rich East pitcher Heather Adney reached first base on the error.

In the fourth, Putlak struck out the side, and her team put the game away in the fifth by scoring four runs. Junior third baseman Victoria Senerchia capped the onslaught for the Mustangs with a two-run double that would have been an inside-the-park grand slam but for the 10-run rule.

Patch’s MVP: Evergreen Park starting pitcher Michelle Putlak (5 innings pitched, 9 strikeouts, 0 hits). Putlak zipped through her innings on the mound, striking out nine of the 15 batters she faced. At the plate, she was 1-for-2 with an RBI walk.

Evergreen Park Leaders: In addition to Putlak, third baseman Victoria Senerchia (1-for-3 with 2 RBIs and the game-ending hit). Senior catcher Alyssa Langevin (1-for-1 with 3 RBIs). Senior Erin Crane (2-for-3 with 2 RBIs).

Quotable: Evergreen Park third baseman Victoria Senerchia on her game-ending hit: “Throughout the game I wasn’t doing very well and I was kind of getting frustrated, but I just calmed down and pretended like it was the beginning of the game again and no one was on base. I just had to come through for my team.”

Quotable II: Rich East coach Jonnie Bass on her team’s year: “We have to build from here. One of our issues is we don’t have our kids playing in the summer. We have to create something where we have our kids play in the summer. They have to play all summer long if we’re going to be competitive in the state tournament.”

Team Records: Evergreen Park improves to 19-10, while Rich East ends its season at 6-13.

What’s Next: Evergreen Park plays the winner of Kankakee and Brooks on Saturday in the Evergreen Park Regional championship game.

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