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Sports
Wildcats score early, often in SPC opener : Sports : Oswego Ledger-Sentinel : Hometown Newspaper for Oswego and Montgomery, IllinoisWildcats score early, often in SPC opener
| Oswego East softball team can't overcome five-run deficit in first inning
| by Kristin Sharp
| 4/5/2012
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The Plainfield Central softball team graduated only three players from its 2011 team that earned a runner-up finish behind Minooka in the Southwest Prairie Conference season.
Now ranked among the top 10 teams in the area, the Wildcats traveled to Oswego East on Tuesday to open SPC play for the 2012 season and dispatched the Wolves 12-2 in five innings.
"It was definitely a tough opponent to start the conference," Oswego East assistant coach Patrick Molinari said. "It was just one of those things where they found a lot of holes and we didn't find as many holes. They came out aggressive and I felt like we could have come out more aggressive. It was just a learning experience."
Plainfield Central wasted little time getting onto the scoreboard. With one out, the Wildcats strung together six consecutive singles - most hit into a gap in shallow left field - and with two outs senior pitcher Rachel Scaman's double to left center field cleared the bases and gave Plainfield Central a 5-0 lead.
Oswego East (5-5, 0-1 SPC) had one baserunner in the bottom of the first, but senior catcher Brittany Russell was left stranded by a strikeout and a pair of infield plays by the Wildcats.
Plainfield Central sent seven more batters to the plate in the top of the second and plated two more runs off a sacrifice fly to left field and another RBI hit through the gap at shallow left field.
The Wildcats kept their 7-0 lead in tact as freshman second baseman Michaela Schlattman made an unassisted double play after sophomore third baseman Julia Johnson produced Oswego East's first hit of the game.
Plainfield Central scored a single run in the third to lead 8-0 before Oswego East strung together a pair of hits in the bottom of the fourth.
Junior shortstop Brittany Warnecke led off with a single to left field and junior Molly Talaska followed with a single to center field, but Scaman induced a pair of fly outs to left field while striking out her third batter of the game to leave both runners stranded on base.
Although Plainfield Central was held scoreless in the top of the fourth thanks to an infield double play, the Wildcats made up for it in the top of the fifth with four more runs to lead 12-0.
Despite the large deficit, a 10-degree temperature drop and the wind blowing out over left field, Oswego East did not show any quit in the bottom of the fifth.
Sophomore pitcher Alex Wagner led off with a single to shallow left center field, but was out at second base on a fielder's choice hit by sophomore center fielder Jordyn Klingbeil.
Russell advanced Klingbeil to second with her well-placed single and senior left fielder Lindsey Anderson was hit by a pitch to give the Wolves another baserunner and Warnecke singled.
Plainfield Central made the force out at home on the ensuing play before Oswego East pushed across two runs in a flurry of calls by the umpire following Warnecke's hit.
"On the back of our shirts we talk about each inning in a round and we're going to continue to fight from the first pitch to the last," Molinari said. "I think the girls did a great job of that (Tuesday). Our heads were in the right spot; we just couldn't do anything. We couldn't score any runs or clutch hits we were hoping to get to move those runners."
Last Saturday, Oswego East split a doubleheader at West Aurora, winning the opening game 13-0 before falling 10-1 in Game 2.
On March 28, the Wolves lost a 5-0 game to Elgin as sisters Jennah and Hannah Perryman combined on the mound to throw a no-hitter. Jennah Perryman, a sophomore, has verbally committed to Ball State while Hannah Perryman is bound for Division II Missouri-St. Louis.
Oswego East will look to rebound today, Thursday, at Romeoville at 4:30 p.m. before traveling to South Elgin on Saturday for a 10 a.m. game. On Monday, the Wolves travel to Naperville Central at 4:30 p.m. before SPC play resumes next Tuesday with a home game against Oswego at 4:30 p.m.
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