West Aurora’s Gab Drager knew she was due for a hit Friday, but Downers Grove North pitcher Savannah Rodriguez had her number all game.
Drager, a freshman third baseman, actually struck out in her previous three at-bats.
But not this time.
With two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning of a 1-1 tie, Drager lined a 1-2 pitch back up the middle. It traveled all of 40 feet before hitting the pitcher in the leg and slowly rolling back toward the plate.
Drager raced for first base. Kallie Rundle, who had been perched on third, took off for home. Rodriguez lunged for the ball, hoping to make a play on either of them in the Class 4A Bolingbrook Sectional championship game.
Rodriguez, however, ran out of time as Rundle stomped on home plate and Drager stepped on first, giving the Blackhawks a 2-1 victory and the program’s first sectional title in 44 years.
“It’s absolutely fantastic making history as we go along here,” Rundle said. “It’s wonderful.”
West Aurora (31-7) set a program record for wins in a season and advanced to a 4:30 p.m. Monday game at the Sandburg Supersectional against Saturday’s winner between Marist and Lyons.
“I was just thinking, ‘Short hands, just get out there early,’ because she had some speed,” Drager said of her final at-bat. “When I got behind, I changed my mindset and decided all I needed to do was make contact.
“It hit the perfect sweet spot, and I knew it was gonna come off the bat hard. I thought she bobbled it, so I just ran harder.”
Rundle started the rally with her second big hit, a double off the base of the fence in left-center that was the hardest hit ball of the game.
“It was a big, big day for Kallie,” West Aurora coach Randy Hayslett. “That double was a shot, a drive.
“I was getting worried if we don’t take advantage of that opportunity. We had to get that leadoff double in, we just had to, and we found a way.”
Rundle moved to third on Payton Lundberg’s groundout to second after Rodriguez earned the inning’s first out with her 17th strikeout.
Hannah Beatus, who struck out 12, matched Rodriguez pitch for pitch after giving up a third-inning run to the Trojans (26-7) on a walk and three infield singles.
Beatus (15-2) stranded five runners in the first three innings, then cruised from there.
In the sixth, Rundle punched a two-out RBI single to center, driving in the tying run after Sophia Delgado started the rally with a one-out walk.
“They were both big hits,” Rundle said. “Before we went to the dugout (in the sixth), We said, ‘This is the time, we’ve got to come out and hit now.’ Luckily, we were able to do that.
“Put the bat on the ball and good things happen.”
It allowed the Blackhawks to exhale because they had runners at first and third with no outs in the fifth and couldn’t get a run across.
Downers Grove North coach Eric Landschoot said his pitcher felt confident facing Drager in the ninth.
“But with good hitters, good teams, the more pitches you see, the probability goes up,” he said. “She made contact and Savannah was generating the power. It was good two-strike hitting in that situation.”
Twitter @RickArmstrong28
