Amber Podlesny`s riseballs were sinking into the dirt and errors were costing her team bases and runs. Then the Lockport pitcher was a step slow in fielding a bunt.
Thornwood`s Darcie Pidrak beat Podlesny`s toss to home to tie the first game of Saturday`s double-header 1-1. Disgust showed on the face of the state`s most highly touted pitcher as she walked back to the mound.
Podlesny then proceeded to strike out Michelle Campbell, the Thunderbirds` pitching ace, to end the inning. But more errors-Lockport committed three for the game-and left-handed-hitting confounded the Porters as Thornwood won 3-1.
Lockport (8-3) neutralized the left-handed hitters in the second game for a 2-0 decision to earn a split at Thornwood (12-3) and leave the teams in much the same position as they entered the double-header.
Lockport came in ranked No. 2 in the area, with losses to No. 1 Sandburg and Morris. Thornwood, No. 3 and the defending state champs, had also lost twice, to No. 7 Downers Grove South and downstate Washington, which is expected to contend for the state title.
Thornwood defeated Lockport in 1990 for the state title, and again last year in the state playoffs 1-0.
How up was Thornwood for these games? When the left-handed-hitting Pidrak beat out a grounder in the bottom of the third for the first hit off Podlesny (4-3), wild cheering erupted in the Thornwood dugout. That marked the start of the Thornwood attack.
Thornwood pounded Podlesny for eight hits, with Pidrak leading the way with two hits, a run scored and an RBI. Campbell gave up seven hits, with a strikeout, and concentrated on not making mistakes.
”I`m not a strikeout pitcher,” she said. ”The defense was behind me, and that`s what really carried us.”
”You`re not gonna score a lot of runs off a great pitcher like her,”
said Thornwood coach Gary Lagesse of Podlesny. ”Our philosophy is to get the ball in play, and good teams will play for just one run. Lockport`s the same way.”
That`s the way they played the second game. Lockport`s No. 2 pitcher, Missy Porzel, who`ll be on scholarship at Eastern Illinois next season, stepped in to try and shut down Thornwood`s Pidrak, Laura Bivona and Jori Ward-all hitting lefty. Bivona and Ward also had hits in the first game.
Lockport earned Porzel the early lead when Podlesny, playing first base, singled off Elaine Carter to score Tami Shuman.
Jenny Sankey`s sacrifice bunt in the seventh scored Podlesny to add an insurance run.
Porzel, hampered by the cold less than riseballer Podlesny, moved her pitches around, giving up five hits and striking out three.
Porzel`s greatest problem was pitching to Pidrak. The two became best friends when Pidrak`s family lived in Homer Township, and Porzel had never pitched to her before.
”When she came up I looked up and said, `Oh, bless us,` but it was fine,” said Porzel. Pidrak grounded out three times.
”They had gotten hits off Amber, but they were slappers and I knew I had to work those lefties,” said Porzel.
Porzel stretched her three-year varsity record to 23-0, and this season`s to 5-0.
”It`s always been a great rivalry. A lot of these girls are friends,”
said Lagesse. ”Today was no exception.”
