St. Al’s cardiac kids win playoff thriller|[04/20/07]

Published 12:00 am Friday, April 20, 2007

Make that three last at-bat playoff wins for the St. Aloysius Lady Flashes.

Stephanie Gwin’s one-out single in the bottom of the seventh inning capped a wild three-run rally as St. Al came back to beat Salem 3-2 in the first game of a Class 1A second round fast-pitch series at Bazinsky Park.

On Saturday, the Lady Flashes won both of their first-round series games against Ethel in the final at-bat. This time they were held scoreless until the seventh when the magic started with some help from Salem (19-6).

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Two throwing errors on bad relays chased home St. Al’s first two runs in the inning. That set the stage for Gwin, who roped a hit to the fence in left-center against a drawn infield and outfield.

&#8220I was shaking when I first went up there, but we have won so many games in the bottom of the seventh,” Gwin said. &#8220That was probably the best hit I’ve had all season. I didn’t even see it roll to the fence. I was happy.”

Gwin’s hit scored K.K. DeRossette to end the game. It was only the second hit in the game for St. Aloysius (18-9). It also sends the Lady Flashes to Salem, needing just one win on Saturday to advance to the 1A South State title series.

&#8220It’s more exciting to win this way, even though it may kill coach Ro (Gene Rogillio),” said winning pitcher Sarah Franco (9-3). &#8220Those two errors helped but it hurt them more because we had base runners on.”

Rogillio added, &#8220That’s three in a row and the second one we’ve came back two (runs) down.”

After several missed opportunities in the second, third and sixth innings, the Lady Flashes got to Salem starter Angela Polk in the seventh.

Katie Koestler drew a leadoff walk and was pulled for pinch-runner Taylor Ann Hasty. A liner by Taylor George was caught by Montgomery and she had a chance to double off Hasty, but the throw sailed into right field, chasing Hasty home for St. Al’s first run.

Blair Tillman then walked, the sixth issued by Polk to that point.

DeRossette, now pinch-hitting, bounced an 0-2 pitch to shortstop Kristin Thomas. A simple relay toss to second would have forced out Tillman but instead, the ball again found its way into deep right field. Tillman scored and DeRossette hustled into third.

With still one out, Martin had no choice but to load the bases. Polk intentionally walked both Sarah Kerut and Park to bring up Gwin.

&#8220We’ve been working on our batting all week because we had fallen into a rut with our hitting,” Gwin said. &#8220It was a low strike and I love low balls.”

Oak Grove 4, WC 0

Ashlyn Williams was simply super on Thursday, pitching Oak Grove to a one-hit shutout of Warren Central in the second round of the Class 5A playoffs.

Williams, a lefty, can pitch Oak Grove (20-0-1) into the third round Saturday as the series shifts to Warren Central (15-11).

The Lady Warriors scored all of their runs in the sixth inning.