On Wednesday, May 7 at The Hill, girls softball played the Providence Catholic Celtics.
Going into the match, Loyola had a record of 6-14 and Providence had 14-7. The teams had played once previously this season, and Providence won 2-1.
Loyola and Providence are in the same conference, meaning this game had extra significance for standings. Providence was ranked in the top 20 for Illinois 3A multiple times this year, so Loyola wanted to be on their game.
Leah Herlocker, one of Loyola’s coaches, said that they were focused on the Celtics’ strong hitters and fast baserunners. “We knew our pitcher, Hunter Lewis, was going to have to be on her game and we knew our defense was going to have to back her up.”
Junior Hunter Lewis did have an amazing game not only as a pitcher, but also as a hitter. She was able to throw a total of 12 strikeouts and hit a homerun in the first inning.
This home run scored two runs, as senior Emilia Bartholemew was also on base from a walk.
In the next inning, Providence scored three runs. For the next few innings there was a drought of scoring for the Ramblers and the Celtics scored once in the fifth and once in the sixth.
“We needed to hit more,” Bartholomew said. “But we did start to come back at the end of the game, which was really good.”
This comeback she is talking about happened in the last inning with a great play from junior Leanna Keller.
Keller was able to hit an amazing double that pushed Bartholemew to cross the plate, and upped the score to 5-3.
Keller advanced to third on an error, which gave the Ramblers some hope, but unfortunately the next two batters struck-out, making 5-3 the final score.
Lewis, Bartholomew, and Keller all had a great game, along with sophomore Chole Takacs who hit a great bunt earlier in the game.
The Ramblers were also able to hold their own on defense, not letting up too many runs and making lots of strong outs.
“I thought it was a good game,” senior Claire Tibshrany said. “Even though we lost, we still played really well.”
This was also a very fun game because it was Faculty and Staff Appreciation Night. Each Loyola player invited one of their teachers to come watch the game and be honored at the start.
“They are such a wonderful group of people and I’m so thankful for all they do to help out our student athletes,” Herlocker said.
Looking forward to the rest of the season, Loyola will play at home against Carmel Catholic on May 16 at 5:00pm for their senior night and head into the playoffs on May 27.
