Kaneland KOs Hampshire

Hampshire's Ally Kent pitches in the second inning against Kaneland in the Class 3A Burlington Regional semifinals Thursday in Burlington. (Beck Diefenbach – Shaw Suburban Media

E-mail this story

Print this story

Share

BURLINGTON – Hampshire pitcher Ally Kent wanted the outside corner. She rarely got it, something Kaneland noticed after only a few batters.

The result was a Knights softball team that waited for Kent, trying to ensure a strike on the outside, to send a pitch over the outer-half of the plate. When Kent did, Kaneland took advantage and used that strategy to defeat the third-seeded Whip-Purs, 6-1, in a Class 3A Burlington Central Regional semifinal Thursday at Burlington Central.

“We saw that she wasn’t getting that (call) in the first inning,” Kaneland pitcher and leadoff hitter Delani Vest said. “We picked up pretty quick.”

Kaneland (27-8), the No. 2 seed, got a run-scoring hit in each of the first three innings for a 3-0 lead. All three hits came on pitches over the outer half of the plate.

“That cost us the game because that’s going to hurt,” Hampshire coach Ken Bram said. “Ally needs those corners. All pitchers need those corners. Good hitters like this, you can’t give them a small zone. We need that whole plate to work with on good hitters.”

Hampshire (12-17-1) got to Vest in the fifth, when Brianna Doyle and Mary Bruscto reached on errors. Grace Jakubow-ski singled in Doyle to cut Kaneland’s lead to 4-1, and Kent walked, loading the bases with one out.

Hampshire’s next two hitters struck out to end the threat.

“That was our inning to change the whole outlook on that game,” Bram said. “We just didn’t get it done. You’ve got to give their pitcher credit.”

With the Knights escaping the jam, it was back to waiting on outside pitches from Kent. Rilee Vest led off the bottom of the fifth with a single, and Herra followed it with a home run to left.

“I saw it coming in at the middle-outside of the plate and just hit it,” Herra said. “She wasn’t getting the calls for it. I knew she just kept going outside, so I kept looking for that outside pitch, but you had to watch it on the release.”

Despite the loss, Bram said he was proud of his team’s effort.

“We played well,” he said. “We we’re right there. I have nothing to hang my head over.”