Softball: Grein comes through for Lincoln-Way Central

ORLAND PARK – Lyndsey Grein made sure this time was different.

The Lincoln-Way Central star senior didn’t pitch the entire game when the Knights faced Lockport twice early in the season. But she gave up runs in both games, and the Knights lost both.

Now, when it counts most, is Grein’s time to shine. She allowed no runs to Lockport this time, and third-seeded Lincoln-Way Central scored plenty of them in turning the tables for a 9-0 win Wednesday in the second semifinal of the Class 4A Sandburg Sectional.

The Knights (24-4-1), who have won six straight and 19 of 20, will face top-seeded Lincoln-Way East, a 2-0 winner over Shepard on Tuesday, at 4:30 p.m. Friday for the sectional title.

Second-seeded Lockport (29-6), which defeated the Knights, 4-2 on April 1 and 10-7 on April 7, also had won 19 of 20 coming in and saw an 11-game winning streak snapped.

Grein pitched Lincoln-Way Central to the Class 4A state championship game last season. So she knows a thing or two about pressure situations.

“Oh yeah, they weren’t my best showings,” Grein said of the early outings against Lockport. “So I just knew I had to work harder. I put in the work to achieve this goal, and my defense was definitely behind me today.”

So was the offense, as the Knights smacked 13 hits, including two each by freshman designated player Lisabella Dimitrijevic, junior left fielder Kayley Kmak, senior first baseman McKenzie Murdock and sophomore shortstop Alexis Youngren.

But it was Kmak who had the biggest hit. With the game still scoreless in the top of the third, the first two Lincoln-Way Central hitters walked. That prompted a pitching change for the Porters, who swapped Alaina Peetz for fellow freshman Kelcie McGraw.

Grein, who bats leadoff, had a single to open the game and is the Knights’ leading hitter, was intentionally walked. That brought up Kmak, who poked a two-run single to right-center to give Central all the runs it would need.

“I like being in that spot, I love to bring the runners in,” said Kmak, who started the season batting ninth and was moved up to the No. 2 spot. “We just had the mindset to do it, and our energy was up.”

Grein was walked four times, three of those intentionally. She is the leading home run hitter on the team with 13 and had faith that Kmak would come through.

“Kayley is an animal,” Grein said. “She’s going to do it; she’s going to pull it through.”

Lincoln-Way Central kept pulling through. Dimitrijevic demolished an RBI double down the left field line to make it 3-0 in the fourth. Sophomore catcher Lucy Cameron creamed a two-out RBI double to center field in the fifth, Murdock mashed a two-out, three-run home run to right-center, her seventh of the season, to make it 7-0 in the sixth. Fittingly, Kmak capped the scoring with another two-out, two-run single to right in the top of the seventh.

Last season Kmak got brought up to the varsity for the postseason run to the state title game. She’d love to be back in Peoria and contribute to more success this season.

“It was a great experience,” she said. “I love this team, and I’d love to get back downstate.”

Grein went the first six innings, allowing three hits while walking one and striking out three. She coaxed 11 groundouts. Dimitrijevic set the Porters down in order in the seventh, with one strikeout.

Seniors Stephanie Hayes, Kendall Herschbach and Kasey Markusic all had singles for the Porters, who turned it around after finishing with a losing season (14-16) for the first time in school history last year. They won their fifth straight regional title in contested seasons and reached 29 wins for the fourth time in that span.

“We had our two freshmen pitchers (who combined for eight strikeouts against the Knights) and a lot of sophomores get valuable experience on a big stage like this,” Lockport coach Marissa Chovanec said of the season. “We had seven great seniors who led us this year and showed their love of the game.”

Not counting the canceled COVID-19 season of 2020, this was the 19th year for Chovanec as head coach. She has a record of 511-174-2, 15 regional titles, and the 2004 Class AA state championship in that span. Her teams don’t get shut out too often but have by Grein two years in a row to end the season.

Last year it was by a score of 10-0 in the sectional semifinal.

“She was on today,” Chovanec said of Grein. “We put the ball in pla,y but we just couldn’t square it up. Her experience really helped her.”

The matchup with Lincoln-Way East is the same two teams that played in last year’s sectional final. The Knights won that one, 3-1, and eventually lost to Marist, 3-1, in the state championship game.

When the two District 210 teams met this season April 12 in New Lenox, Lincoln-Way East won, 3-2. But at this time of the season, there’s no one else that Lincoln-Way Central coach Jeff Tarala wants in the circle except Grein.

“It’s the competitor in her,” he said of Grein’s postseason success. “She has something to prove. Great players step up in big moments, and there’s no one else we’d want out there than her.”