By Scott Taylor | @Taylor_Sports
It might be a new-look Plainfield Central softball team, but it has had the same playoff result as it has the past five years.
That is a regional championship.
The Wildcats withstood constant rallies from Romeoville to win the Plainfield South Regional title 11-10 Saturday.
“This is a new team,” Campbell said. “They haven’t been here and done that. They maintained their composure really well and I’m proud of how they battled. This is all them. They are what it is all about. They buy in to it and they believe. We work for this all year and they struggled early in the year but figured it out.”
Sara Peterson hit two home runs, the first in the bottom of the first inning for a 2-0 Central lead.
“I was just trying to move runners along,” Peterson said. “With the wind blowing out, I knew I had a chance to hit homers, but I was just looking for base hits. We knew we had to keep hitting because they have good hitters.”
After a two-run double from Madison Massaro in the top of the third to tie the game, Alejandra Ochoa answered with a solo home run for a 3-2 Wildcat lead after three.
Sara Peterson celebrates one of her two home runs in Plainfield Central’s 11-10 win over Romeoville Saturday.
The floodgates opened in the bottom of the fourth inning.
With the wind blowing out, Central pushed three runs across and then Ochoa hit her second home run of the game in as many innings, a three-run shot to give Central a 9-2 advantage.
“We always talk about picking each other up, so that was all I was trying to do,” Ochoa said. “I just wanted to get a hit. The wind blowing out did give us an advantage. I love being a part of this.”
It could have been worse but Brittany Osborne made a diving catch before the home run to save another run.
The Spartans seemed out of it, but on this day the game was far from over with.
Sophomore Katherine Szulczyk blasted a two-run home run and after an error, two more runs came across before Osborne finished the inning of with a two-run homer of her own to get the six runs back and make it a 9-8 game.
With two outs in the bottom half of the inning, a walk was followed by Peterson’s second homer for an 11-8 Wildcat advantage.
“I didn’t realize how big that was, I was just trying to help my team,” Peterson said. “It feels pretty good to be a part of the team and win a regional.
But Skye Osborne opened the top of the sixth with a home run and Asia Robinette added a RBI single to make it 11-10.
Romeoville had one more chance in the seventh after a Brittany Osborne single, but Skye Osborne hit a hard line drive, right to the centerfielder to end the game.
“My hat’s off to Romeoville,” Campbell said. “They played a wonderful game. Their kids stepped up in the regional and played. My kids just battled today and had some big hits up and down the lineup. Our outfielders’ defense was just phenomenal today. This was the most they were challenged and they came up big today.”
•Plainfield Central topped Plainfield South 7-0 in the South Regional semifinal. Sammy Sabor (double), Sammi Newtoff (homer) and Brooklyn Daly all had two hits, while Bri Blaskey had a home run and two RBI. Daly struck out five in the rain-shortened five-inning game, allowing four hits. Two of those hits were from South’s Kirsten Drabek.