Lisle Baseball, Softball Teams Advance to Regional Title Game

Lisle High School’s baseball and softball teams advanced to their respective regional championship games after registering convincing victories in their playoff openers.

Coach Pete Meyer’s Lions made short work of Chicago Leo, 15-4, in five innings Thursday afternoon at the Lisle regional. Meanwhile, coach Jen Pomatto’s Lisle softball team cruised to a 5-0 victory over Westmont in its regional opener Tuesday at Westmont behind the one-hit pitching of Bekka Houda.

Baseball

The Lions batted around twice in the second and third innings, scoring six runs each inning. The game concluded after five innings due to the 10-run slaughter rule.

Six of the first seven Lisle batters who reached base in the second inning came around to score. Sophomore Ryan Van Volkenburg delivered the key hit in the inning, a two-run single that made it 4-0.

The Lions sent 12 hitters to the plate in the third. Ryan Burlison, Will DeCraene and Adam Grego each had RBI singles, and the rout was on.

“I liked what they did at the plate,” Meyer said. “They kept their discipline at the plate; they worked on all the things we always work on as far as being disciplined and not swinging at bad pitches.

"Sometimes you go up there and you really want to hit when you see a guy who’s maybe not throwing as hard as you’re used to. It’s a lot of discipline sometimes to put that bat on your shoulder and take those walks, and we had several of them (nine, plus three batters who were hit by pitches).”

Junior right-hander Nick Olson held Leo hitless through the first three innings and faced the minimum number of hitters. Jon Clayton finished up the final two innings. (All four of Leo’s runs were unearned.)

“Nick did a great job,” Meyer said. “That’s what I wanted to see out of him. Sometimes it’s difficult to pitch in a situation like that when you get a bunch of runs early. He did a great job. It was nice to get him out there for a few innings.”

DeCraene was the only Lion who had a multi-hit game with a single and double. Drew Martin added an RBI single in the fourth.

The Lions square off with a familiar and formidable foe, Aurora Christian, for the regional title at 11 a.m. Saturday. Aurora Christian, whom the Lions defeated during the regular season, pummeled its first-round regional opponent, Hales Franciscan, 21-0.

Meyer knows the Lions will need to bring their “A” game, and then some, to take the regional title.

“We’re going to need to play a perfect game,” Meyer said. “They’re a good team. I think we can beat them; we beat them during the regular season, but it depends on a lot of things—pitching, defense, all those things.

“We’re going to have to play a real solid game to get by them. Obviously we’re looking forward to that challenge.”

Softball

Houda had her way with Westmont’s batting order on Tuesday. Now 17-2 on the year, the senior struck out 15 en route to blanking the Sentinels.

Junior Melanie Early went 3-for-4 on the day and drove in a run. Freshman Summer Stitt continued her hot hitting for the Lions, with a triple and single in four at-bats. She also scored two runs.

Tori Harris, a senior, and junior Shelby Kretman each had a double.

The Lions will play Immaculate Conception of Elmhurst—a 5-2 winner over Timothy Christian—for the Westmont regional title starting at 11 a.m. Saturday. The winner of this contest would advance to the Lisle sectional next Wednesday, May 25, and face the winner of the St. Scholastica regional (either Chicago Latin or Woodlands Academy of Lake Forest).