High School Sports: Lisle Baseball-Softball Insider

Lisle softball

Record: (through Saturday, April 30) 14-2 overall, 6-2 in Interstate Eight North Division

This week’s schedule: (all games start at 4:30 p.m. unless otherwise indicated; all home games are played at Lisle Field No. 5)

Tuesday, May 3: at Plano

Thursday, May 5: at Seneca (doubleheader)

Friday, May 6: vs. Reed-Custer

Last week: The Lions buzz-sawed through their first three opponents of the week—all via shutout. Bekka Houda scattered five hits en route to Lisle’s 10-0 victory in five innings vs. Westmont on April 25. Mackenzie Buchelt had two hits and three RBIs while Grace Riley singled and doubled. Shelby Kretman also collected two hits. Lisle handed Westmont its second shutout defeat in as many days, 5-0, as Melanie Early struck out 10 and gave up just three hits. She also was 2-for-3 at the plate. Summer Stitt, a freshman went 3-for-5. Early took the mound again last Friday, and this time she threw a no-hitter as the Lions defeated Herscher 7-0. Stitt tripled, singled and scored three runs to lead the offense.

Ironically, the Lions fell victim to a no-hitter in a 3-0 loss to I-8 crossover opponent Manteno on Saturday. The defeat snapped Lisle’s seven-game winning streak. Houda suffered her first loss of the season.

At the plate: Early is leading the team with a .553 average, while Buchelt checks in at .436. Stitt and Riley check in at .423 and .314, respectively.

On the mound: Houda (9-1) has a 1.20 ERA and has fanned 96 batters. Early (5-1) owns a 0.18 ERA with 47 strikeouts.

Off the bench: Senior outfielder Anne Begley pinch hit on April 25 and delivered an RBI single up the middle.

Injury report: No injuries.

Quoting coach Jen Pomatto:

On this week’s schedule: “We’re playing five games in four days so it’s going to be tough. The doubleheader Thursday will be a test for us. Seneca is playing really good ball. It sets up good for our pitching because we have two excellent pitchers, but we have to come off the bus and get the job done. We can’t focus on Thursday until we get there. We need to focus on today and get our bats going and continue what we’ve been doing.”

On being no-hit:  “It’s going to happen every once in a while. She (Manteno pitcher) no-hit us and she shouldn’t have no-hit us. I think we let her get to us and didn’t take advantage of her in the first inning when she walked two people. They have to realize that they’re going to face good pitching and can’t get down if they don’t get a hit the first time. If we don’t make those adjustments, the hits aren’t going to come and we didn’t make adjustments. We didn’t go up there with confidence at all.”

On the team’s dominant pitching: “It’s maturity; they’ve been here before. Grace Riley, our catcher, is also calling great games and keeping hitters off-balance. They’re working well together.”

Lisle baseball

Record: (through Saturday, April 30) 15-6 overall, 5-3 in the Interstate Eight North Division.

This week’s schedule: (all games start at 4:30 p.m. unless otherwise indicated; all home games are played at Lisle Field No. 7)

Tuesday, May 3: at Plano

Wednesday, May 4: vs. Aurora Christian

Thursday, May 5: at Seneca (doubleheader)

Friday, May 6: vs. Reed-Custer

Last week: Lisle avenged a 6-5 loss to Westmont on April 25 with a 3-2 triumph over the Sentinels April 26. Ryan Burlison pitched a complete game two-hitter and struck out 11 while not allowing a walk. Nick Olson led the way offensively with three hits and two RBIs; Burlison and Brian Czyl contributed two hits each.

Last Friday, the Lions dropped a tough 9-8 game to Herscher in nine innings. Lisle trailed 6-1 at one point, but tied it up in the bottom of the sixth. Herscher took an 8-6 advantage in the eighth, but Lisle made it 8-8 in their half of the inning. After tying the game, the Lions had an opportunity to score the go-ahead run with runners at first and second and no outs, but failed to do so.

On Saturday, the Lions bounced back with a 6-1 victory over Manteno in an I-8 crossover game (Manteno is undefeated in the South Division.). Manteno took an early 1-0 lead, but the Lions jumped in front 2-1. Nick Thome put the game out of reach with a three-run homer in the fifth. Kazim Khan was the winning pitcher.

At the plate: Ryan Van Volkenburg is batting .426 at the No. 2 spot in the order. Olson, the team’s No. 3 hitter, is hitting .407 with an on-base percentage of .520. Leadoff hitter Willie DeCraene is at .366 with a .450 OBP.

On the mound: Khan (5-2) has fanned 41 hitters in 33 innings and sports a 3.15 ERA. Burlison (3-1) has struck out 36 in 22 innings.

Off the bench: Ed Kretch pitched four solid innings of relief in the loss to Herscher.

Injury report: Sophomore pitcher Alex Ventrella will likely miss the entire week this week after getting his non-pitching (right) hand accidentally stepped on and spiked while participating in a rundown drill (his hand needed 16 stitches).

Quoting coach Pete Meyer

On this week’s schedule: “We’ve got five conference games this week and we’re trying to defend our conference title. You find out what you’re made of this week. We have to play one game at a time and put ourselves in a good position. Every game is equally important, but you have to win the first one before you can win the second game. Aurora Christian is a very good team every year. We beat them last year in regional final. They won our regional two years ago. It’s been back and forth with them.”

On how the team is performing: “Last week we were somewhat inconsistent with our concentration and focus. We play hard; we just don’t execute the way I think we can and the boys think we can. We’re doing a real nice job defensively, but if we’re not getting bunts down and hit-and-runs executed, not doing those little things, it can make a big difference in a one-run ballgame. We’ve got to be doing the little things to win one-run games. Looking back at last six games, five of them were one-run games.”