The Brookfield (20-2, 12-1) girls softball team had a chance in the first inning to take the lead and steal the momentum in the South-West Conference Semi-Final game. They had a big defensive play in the top of the inning that thwarted a potential rally from their opponent Lauralton Hall (16-3, 11-2).
"That fired us up," Brookfield head coach Frank Bonacci said.
Then they loaded the bases and had one of their top run producers of the season up at bat. Freshman Danielle Demarco lofted a pitch to right field that was caught and the Lady Bobcats best chance of the day went by the board in a difficult 3-0 loss.
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"We tried to jump on them right there," Bonacci added. "We had our opportunity."
Lauralton Hall had gotten to Brookfield starting pitcher Kayla Berardi with a double in the first inning but had their aggressive play work against them when the runner was thrown out at third base trying to stretch the hit to a triple. Having just seen Berardi in a 2-1 loss five days ago, their hitters seemed more at ease against the usually untouchable Brookfield ace.
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"It's always good the second time around," Lauralton Hall head coach Theresa Napolitano said. "Kayla's always good, she did her job. We were just fortunate with the bats."
In the top of the second inning the Lady Crusaders continued to be aggressive at bat and on the base path's as they grabbed the lead. First basemen Mariel Schlaeffer had no problem-reaching third on a triple and she scored on a sacrifice fly to left field by third basemen Jessica Napolitano for a 1-0 advantage.
"We put pressure on them early by being aggressive on the base paths," Napolitano said. "Their left-fielder was in. Early in the game is a good time to take a risk. The tide went our way."
In the third inning the Lady Crusaders got a leadoff bunt single and then a sacrifice bunt to put a runner in scoring position. Berardi got a strikeout she needed but the ball got away from catcher Jill Carneglia allowing the runners to take first base and third base. Catcher Courtney Collins then stroked a single through the left side for a 2-0 lead.
Berardi would settle down by retiring the next eight batters she faced, keeping the Lady Bobcats in the game.
"Kayla's been a horse for us," Bonacci said of his dominant pitcher. "She's pitched every inning but three for us all year. They were on her. The other day she was perfect against them, today they hit her. I didn't think those two runs would hold up."
Laurelton Hall had their own ace going and she was dialed in. After escaping the first inning jam, Hayley Spragg kept the Lady Bobcats off balance the rest of the way.
"They didn't win fifteen, sixteen games for nothing," Bonacci said of Spragg. "She threw a lot of change ups today."
Spragg allowed only two more hits the rest of the way and worked around a sixth inning error that put the leadoff runner on.
"We wanted to mix it up," Napolitano said of her pitchers different approach the second time around. "They have a lot of free swingers, powerful swingers."
In the top of the seventh inning Lauralton Hall got to Berardi one more time. With two outs they got a single and another triple for a 3-0 lead that would send them into the SWC finals.
Having just seen Brookfield earlier in the week helped Spragg and the entire team.
"The whole team took something from that," Spragg said. "We started to hit in the last inning of that game and we started from there. On the mound I acted like it was a whole new game. I knew what hitters to throw to. It worked out great."
The loss was only the second of the year for the Brookfield softball team. They will turn their attention to the state tournament now that their goal of reaching the SWC finals has passed them by. They have earned the number two seed in Class L next week allowing them to play at home.
"It's always our goal to get our seniors in a championship game, we still have states and they will be tough," Bonacci said. "We had the intensity today, it just wasn't meant to be."
