Softball: Sophomore Molly Southall leads Wilmington past Joliet Central

JOLIET – Molly Southall likes to swing the bat.

The Wilmington sophomore showed that Tuesday in a 15-2 win over Joliet Central. Southall went 3 for 3 with a home run, a double and four RBIs to help lead the Wildcats (2-0) to their second straight 15-run showing. They beat Grant Park 15-0 in their season opener Monday. Tuesday’s game was Central’s season opener.

The lefty-swinging Southall announced her presence with authority Tuesday, slamming an 0-1 pitch deep into left-center – the deepest part of the park at Joliet Central – and sprinted around the bases for an inside-the-park, two-run homer that highlighted a six-run first inning.

“I like to look for a good pitch to hit early in the count,” Southall said. “I prefer one that is middle out because I like to hit to left-center, and I got it.

“We played well today, and we are looking to have a good year this year.”

While it’s unlikely the Wildcats will keep scoring 15 runs a game, they showed that the ingredients for a good season are in place. They start three sophomores and four freshmen, and all contributed to the win. Sophomore pitcher Lexi Strohm allowed one hit and struck out five in three shutout innings, while sophomore leadoff hitter and third baseman Taylor Stefancic was 2 for 3 with a walk and scored three runs. Freshman shortstop Nina Egizio was 1 for 1 with three walks and an RBI, while freshman DH Aly Allgood was 2 for 4 with a double and two RBIs.

“We’ve had a good start to the year,” Wilmington coach Jack Skole said. “We have a good young team. We had a sophomore [Strohm] start on the mound and a freshman [Allgood] finish up and they both threw well. We played good defense, too.

“It’s good that the weather has been nice. We are able to be outside and play games, and our young players have been able to get a feel for the game. We always remind them that they need to stay on top of their game at all times on the varsity level. These teams have good players, and even if we are leading, they have the potential to get back in it. What I like about this team is that we have a lot of speed, which is something we haven’t had a lot of in the past.”

After the Wildcats put up six in the first, Joliet Central allowed only one run in the next three innings. Starting pitcher Kassie Martinez allowed four hits and one run in the second through fourth innings, and the Steelmen got some stellar defensive work from shortstop Haydn Voss and center fielder Elliana Fowler.

“We showed a huge improvement defensively over last year,” Central coach Jon Rashid said. “Elliana made a great running catch in center. We made the plays we should have made, and that’s all I am asking for.

“I was happy with how Kassie pitched. She went out there and threw strikes and let the defense take care of things.”

The Steelmen got on the board in the bottom of the fourth when Neveya Ibarra led off with a walk and eventually scored on a passed ball. They added another run in the fifth. Pinch hitter Savannah Grubbs led off by getting hit by a pitch and went to second on a single by Natalie Reyes (2 for 2, walk). The runners moved up on a ball hit back to the pitcher by Voss, and Grubbs scored on a grounder to second by Ibarra.

“We know that hitting will be a struggle for us,” Rashid said. “But we were able to put the ball in play and get a couple of runs across. One thing we do need to work on is taking third strikes. We had too many strikeouts looking. I don’t care if someone strikes out, but I want to see them go down swinging and giving themselves a chance.”