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Schools

Trinity Softball Loses Despite Evans' Dramatic Homer

Mother McAuley scores in the bottom of the seventh to edge the Blazers 6-5 in the Class 4A Morton sectional semifinals.

The softball team experienced an extreme swing of emotions in the seventh inning of Thursday’s Class 4A Morton sectional semifinal that ended in heartbreak.

The Blazers were flying high when sophomore shortstop Nicole Evans belted a game-tying, two-run homer with two outs in the top of the seventh.

However, Mother McAuley quickly recovered emotionally. In the bottom of the inning, the Mighty Macs loaded the bases with one out and then scored the winning run on a wild pitch to nip Trinity 6-5 in Cicero.

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“It was a good game,” Blazers coach Bob Osborne said. “We felt that the winner of this game was going downstate. We knew this was a great (McAuley) team. They were kind of under the radar for a little bit at the end of the year, but we knew what McAuley had. We fought hard. That’s all we can ask.”

Trinity (29-4) entered the seventh inning trailing 5-3. Abby Ramirez reached on a one-out throwing error that put her on second base, but then McAuley pitcher Ashley Rogers induced a ground out for the second out. That brought up Evans. When Rogers fell behind Evans 3-0, Osborne gave his No. 3 hitter the green light.

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“You got to turn Nicole Evans loose 3-0,” Osborne said. “I’ve probably given her two take signs in two years. You know, 3-0, if she gets her pitch, she swings.”

Evans pounced on the pitch on the outer portion of the plate and smacked it over the fence in right field to tie the game.

“I figured she was going to throw me something good because she didn’t want to walk me,” Evans said. “That was my first home run on the right side of the field so that’s an accomplishment. It was exciting.”

Unless you were McAuley (29-8).

“I wanted to cry,” Mighty Macs coach Colleen Kilduff said. “Nicole Evans is an amazing hitter. We knew she had the ability to change the game, and Ashley got down 3-0 and we were a little worried, but all the credit goes to Nicole. She’s an amazing, amazing hitter.”

McAuley proved to be resilient in the bottom of the seventh. With one out, Megan Bush sliced a double, Alex Raske singled and Rogers walked to load the bases, setting the stage for pinch-runner Caroline Usher to score on a wild pitch.

“You know, last year everything went right in the playoffs and it was a little different (this year),” Osborne said. “It was a little tougher,  but that’s okay. I’m proud of them. I like that we fought back. We didn’t go down 1-2-3 in the last inning. We put the runs down and made them come beat us.”

The teams split during the regular season. McAuley won 6-1 on April 7, while Trinity defeated the Mighty Macs 8-3 in the Girls Athletic Conference Red Division Tournament title game on May 14.

Each team scored an unearned run in the first inning.

Trinity took a 3-1 lead in the top of the fifth on a two-run homer by Abby Ramirez.

McAuley answered with four runs on six hits in the bottom of the inning. The Mighty Macs produced five consecutive two-out hits to pull ahead 5-3. Raske tied the game with an infield hit and Micaela Carney delivered a go-ahead, two-run single up the middle.

McAuley out-hit the Blazers 12-5.

Trinity sophomore pitcher Chase Machain finished the season 22-3.

“We had a great year,” Osborne said. “Of course we all wanted to win the state title. We knew we had a shot, but we came up a little short.”

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