Coal City uses timely hitting, strong defense in 6-0 regional win over WFC

RURAL STREATOR — The Woodland/Flanagan-Cornell softball team did a pretty good job of putting the bat on the ball during Thursday’s Class 2A regional game against Coal City, but the problem was that almost every time a defender was in the way.

The No. 4-seeded Coalers on the other hand found enough open field to bang out nine hits in scoring a pair of runs in the second, one in the third and three more in the seventh to top the No. 5-seeded Warriors 6-0 at Woodland High School.

Coal City (12-9) now advances to Saturday’s 11 a.m. championship game against top-seeded and host Seneca, which also picked up a 10-0 win over Reed-Custer in five innings. WFC sees its season come to a close with a 13-7 mark.

“We hit into a little bit of bad luck today for sure and there are going to be games like that ... We should have been able to scratch a couple of runs across today, but it seemed like any ball we hit hard was right at them and they made a couple of really nice plays as well.”

—  Woodland/Flanagan-Cornell coach Jordan Farris

“We hit into a little bit of bad luck today for sure and there are going to be games like that. Give Coal City credit, I think they are a young team like we are, but today their defense was outstanding while we made a couple of key errors that allowed a couple of runs to score and runners to move up,” said WFC coach Jordan Farris. “We should have been able to scratch a couple of runs across today, but it seemed like any ball we hit hard was right at them and they made a couple of really nice plays as well.”

The Coalers scored a pair of runs in the second off WFC starter and losing pitcher Shae Simons (7 IP, 9 H, 6 R, 4 ER, 0 BB, 4 K) starting with Makenzie Henline lining a two-out triple just inside the left line. Abby Gagliardo followed with an RBi single to left-center on an 0-2 pitch and No. 9 hitter Maci Baldauf smacked a 1-2 pitch to the fence in right to plate Gagliardo. In the third, Natalie Teague blooped a one-out base hit to right-center and scored on a two-strike, two-double double by Jadyn Shaw to make it 3-0.

“The bottom of the order carried us today, but I thought everyone in the lineup had a good game plan in the box and executed when called on. You want to be playing your best softball right now and I thought this was one of our best overall games of the season.”

—  Coal City coach Rodney Monbrum

“We preach that on 1-2 or 0-2 counts you’re not beat, you get three strikes and we practice and talk about those situations a lot,” said Coal City coach Rodney Monbrum. “We had three or four hits, and not just bloopers, but hard-hit balls today in those types of spots. We did a good job of getting up on the plate a little bit when down in the count and then just went with wherever the pitch was and put it in play.

“The bottom of the order carried us today, but I thought everyone in the lineup had a good game plan in the box and executed when called on. You want to be playing your best softball right now and I thought this was one of our best overall games of the season.”

The Warriors, which finished with five hits off Coal City starter and winning pitcher Kaitlyn Jasper (7 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K), had their best chance in the third when a leadoff single by Kortney Harms and a fielder’s choice preceded a double to left by Audrey Jenkins. However, Jasper induced a pop-out for the second out before right fielder Addison Gagliardo made a great running catch on a liner ticketed for the right-center gap off the bat of Sydnee Plesko.

“(Jasper) only averages about two strikeouts per game, so we have to generally record 19 outs with our defense,” said Monbrum. “I felt she kept them off balance with changing speeds and our defense made all the routine plays with a couple of really good ones mixed in.”

In the seventh, Coal City received a leadoff single by Abby Gagliardo and Balduaf’s sacrifice bunt was overthrown at first to put runners on second and third. Makayla Henline doubled in both runners and later scored on a two-bagger by Teague.

“(Coal City) executed in all facets of the game today and we didn’t,” said Farris. “We talk to Shae about it all the time about when she gets ahead in the count early that we want to stay away from the middle of the plate. I thought Shae did that, for the most part, today, but it seemed like anytime she didn’t they were ready and put a good swing on it. As a freshman, this was a great learning season for her and her future is a bright one. Coal City was just able to capitalize on any mistake we made while not making very many that we could do the same with.”