Softball: Metz’s 15-strikeout one-hitter sends Wheaton North into sectional final; WW South ousted by Oswego

Erin Metz has her routine, and she sticks to it.

After every pitch, the Wheaton North senior and Valparaiso commit steps out of the circle and scoops up her rosin bag.

After every inning, Metz takes it back to the dugout with her.

“It slows the game down for me, and makes sure I’m not rushing. It lets me take a breather, and it’s always been like that,” Metz said. “It helps me grip the ball, but even when I don’t need it I go to it.”

Even amid a postgame celebration, Metz made sure not to forget her trusty security blanket.

She indeed had a grip on things Wednesday.

Metz struck out 15 batters in an overpowering one-hit performance, taking a perfect game into the fifth. Reagan Crosthwaite’s three-run base hit in the fifth provided all the offense Metz would need as top-seeded Wheaton North beat 14th-seeded Plainfield East 3-0 in a Class 4A Plainfield North Sectional semifinal.

Wheaton North (29-6), already winners of its first conference and regional titles in 38 years, advances to play second-seeded Oswego in Friday’s sectional final.

And Metz, its four-year varsity starter, is a huge reason why.

Metz allowed just one baserunner, Avery Welsh’s two-out single in the fifth. Metz struck out the first four batters she faced, twice struck out the side, and her 15th strikeout finished it off.

“Lights out,” Wheaton North coach Allie Ravanesi said. “She was zoned in all day. Not that she isn’t every other day, but she really wants this, and she’s proving to herself that she wants it. She’s really focused.”

Metz has multiple pitches in her repertoire, but her rise ball was the money pitch Wednesday. Plainfield East hitters couldn’t catch up.

Metz realized that early on and kept going back to the well. She got her first strikeout on a called third strike on a changeup, but most came through the rise.

“They kept swinging at it, so it was a pitch we kept going to,” Metz said. “Even in warmups it was working better than some of the other pitches. We went with that pitch and ran with it. Even if there wasn’t two strikes, even if there were no strikes, we kept it in our back pocket.”

Metz needed to be on her game with a capable foil on the opposite end.

Plainfield East junior Maya Patel, while not as overpowering as Metz with just three strikeouts, was nonetheless equally as effective most of the way.

With a stiff breeze blowing in, Patel used it to her advantage by generating six fly ball outs and one pop-up. The biggest came in the third, when Patel got Crosthwaite, who has 18 homers on the season, on an inning-ending fly out with runners on second and third.

Patel scattered seven hits and a walk.

“She’s been doing that all season,” Plainfield East coach Rebekah Grimes said. “She was mixing up her speeds well and she showed up in those crucial situations. She gave us an opportunity to stay in that game.”

Given a second opportunity, though, Crosthwaite delivered.

Alyssa Savenok, Moriah Herr and Monica Kading singled with one out in the fifth, and after a strikeout, Crosthwaite came up in a similar spot as the third inning.

This time she lined a single to right-center to bring in two runs, and the third runner came around to score on a bobble in the outfield.

“My second at bat, I hit a ball that I thought was good and it didn’t go anywhere,” Crosthwaite said. “My next at bat, I knew I had to be on top of the ball and use my top hand. I flattened out my swing a little bit. I just knew I had to come through in that moment.”

Kading and Herr each had two hits for Wheaton North. Kading reaching base all three times.

Oswego 5, WW South 0:

Jaelynn Anthony kept finding herself in tight spots Wednesday that required the Oswego sophomore pitcher to be at her best.

What is Anthony at her best?

Funny that way.

It’s apparently when the team cut-up reveals itself, or other colorful descriptions that Oswego junior catcher and Iowa commit Kiyah Chavez came up with.

“She plays her absolute best when she’s acting like an absolute hooligan,” Chavez said. “One of my jobs as her catcher is to make sure she’s always feeling silly, being dumb. It’s a great time. That’s when she’s at her best.”

Anthony’s pitching, however she did it, was serious business.

Five times she weaved out of traffic with multiple baserunners, with the help of her nine strikeouts and a couple key defensive plays behind her. She added her team-leading 13th homer for good measure in second-seeded Oswego’s 5-0 win over third-seeded Wheaton Warrenville South in the Class 4A Plainfield North Sectional semifinal.

Anthony allowed seven hits and three walks, frequently touching the hot stove of trouble but never getting burned.

Bringing the heat helped.

“I just threw the ball hard and made sure they didn’t hit it,” Anthony said. “They had a lot of people on base, but it is what it is. I just made it hard for myself for no reason and then I figured it out. I just told myself I’m tired of this, just throw hard.”

Anthony said that in tough spots, she feels her fingers more so the ball spins more, and then just throws it hard.

Chavez said Anthony has skills that make her unique.

“You don’t see too many pitches like Jae, who throw 63-64 with spin and control,” Chavez said. “She has all three.”

WW South three times had its first two runners reach base, starting with the first when Abby Mease, who had three hits, singled and Parker Leonard walked. Anthony retired the next three, significant to her coach.

“The key was she didn’t have a bad first inning,” Oswego coach Paul Netzel said. “She got through that first inning and then was her normal self. Plus the girls played such good defense.”

Starting in the fourth, when WW South (23-10) loaded the bases with one out trailing 3-0. Anthony struck out the next batter, and on Mease’s high chopper in front of the plate Chavez snatched it and tagged home plate behind her.

“A lot of times those balls bounce up and if you let them keep bouncing they’ll go foul,” Chavez said. “As soon as it was up I had to grab it, contort my body in a weird way. It worked out.”

So, too, in the sixth.

WW South’s first two batters reached, and after back-to-back Anthony strikeouts Caroline Schultz singled for the Tigers. But Natalie Muellner unleashed a perfect throw from left to cut down a runner at the plate.

“Phenomenal,” Chavez said. “Natalie was somebody that at the beginning of the season didn’t get an opportunity. They gave her a chance and she’s proved herself over and over again.”

It was that kind of day for WW South, which had as many hits as Oswego.

“It wasn’t our day, it really wasn’t our day,” Tigers coach Jeff Pawlak said. “And Oswego, they’re good. We just didn’t come up with a hit when we needed it.”

Anthony’s solo homer to left through a strong breeze blowing in, Oswego’s 45th of the year, gave the Panthers (26-10) a 2-0 lead.

But most of their offense was more small drops than thunder.

In the first Katie LaChappell walked, went to second on a wild pitch and third on a Marissa Moffett bunt and scored on Chavez’s sacrifice fly. More of the same in the third, Muellner and LaChappell singles, a Moffett bunt and Chavez sacrifice fly. The Panthers tacked on two in the fifth on Moffett and Anthony RBI singles.

“We got the kids who can do that small ball,” Netzel said. “Some teams try it, but can’t. We have overall good athletes. It’s fun to watch.”

Fun will be two teams that can mash, and just smashed regional droughts, matching up Friday. Wheaton North just won its first regional in 38 years, Oswego 37.

“If the wind is blowing out it could be a barnburner,” Netzel said.

“I’m excited,” Anthony said. “I have a lot of travel teammates from Wheaton North. We just have to beat them.”

Pawlak’s Tigers made the sectional final last year, and hade eight starters back from that team in winning their second straight regional led by Parker Leonard and Maddie Pool.

“I would have liked to get a sectional with this group,” Pawlak said. “It’s been a good run.”