On Friday afternoon, Providence freshman Kelsie Roeder started in left field and hit seventh for the Celtics as they took on nonconference rival Joliet West.

Roeder hit like she was a seasoned veteran in the middle of the order, slugging three doubles in three at-bats and scoring the winning run on an errant pickoff throw in the bottom of the sixth in a 4-3 win over the Tigers.

“I really wasn’t thinking about my approach,” Roeder said. “I got some pitches I could hit and I went with them.

“Even though we were down early, I knew that this team would come back. We are going to get everybody’s best shot every time we play, just like we did today.”

Providence (12-2), which finished second in Class 3A last season and returns nearly its entire starting lineup, saw Joliet West (5-9) take an early lead by scoring a run in the top of the first and two more in the top of the second.

The Tigers played classic small ball for their runs.

In the first, Ella Featherston led off with a single, then stole second. She was sacrificed to third by Mallory Crisafulli and scored on a grounder to short by Caitlin Jadron. In the top of the second, Makenzie Mielke (2 for 4) led off with a single and stole second. She went to third on a single by Madeline Woods and scored on a fielder’s choice by Olivia Horn, who was safe at first with Woods reaching third.

Horn then stole second and, after a strikeout, Featherston singled to right to score Woods, but Horn was thrown out at the plate.

Providence answered in the bottom of the second.

Macie Robbins led off the inning with her first career varsity home run, clearing the fence in center field, to cut the West lead to 3-1. An out later, Roeder doubled, then came around to score on a double by Olivia Vittori. West’s defense came through with a double play when Bella Cortes flew out to Jadron in center, who threw out Vittori trying to tag and get to third.

Celtic pitcher Carsyn Petrow held the Tigers scoreless over the next two innings, stranding runners on second and third in the third. She gave way to Robbins in the fifth inning, and Robbins retired nine of the 10 batters she faced, allowing only a one-out walk in the top of the seventh.

Meanwhile, the Celtics tied it in the third. Bella Olszta led off with a single and stole second. She scored on a single by Addisyn Quinlan. Providence had runners on first and third later in the inning, but Horn induced a groundout to end the threat.

In the sixth, Roeder led off with a double and was bunted to third by Vittori. Cortes walked, but during the at-bat, West tried to catch Roeder off of third. The throw got away, and Roeder came home with the eventual winning run.

“It was awesome to see Kelsie Roeder continue to swing a hot bat,” Providence coach Jim Holba said. “She is just going with the pitch and squaring the ball up well. It was good to see us manufacture that last run with a double, a bunt and scoring on an error. In close games, you have to find ways to manufacture runs.

“Macie got her first varsity homer, and that loosened us up. Once we got a run on the board, the girls relaxed in the box a little bit. We still didn’t get the hits we needed with runners in scoring position, but their pitchers did a good job of keeping us off-balance. We know we are going to get everybody’s best shot, so we have to come ready to play every day.”

Joliet West coach Heather Suca was happy with the progress she is seeing from her team.

“We’re getting there,” she said. “We have really improved and look a lot better than we did two or three weeks ago. We have to be able to finish things, though. We hurt ourselves by not scoring some runners from second and third and had some defensive lapses, but those things are fixable.

“Providence is a very good team, and our girls didn’t give up. They have bought into the system and their attitude is great. That’s the No. 1 thing. They have a great attitude and are getting better every game.”