Softball: Ella Little 'lights out,' leads Glenbard South into sectional final

LISLE – Ella Little swiped away at tiny bugs with her glove throughout Thursday's game, but they served as small distraction.

She was back on her game.

Little, Glenbard South's senior pitcher, has battled a finger injury lately. She hurt a finger on her pitching hand sliding back into a base against Streamwood, and she's been eased along since then.

"She said today she felt 100 percent for the first time in about a month," Glenbard South coach Julie Fonda said, "and it showed. She was lights out."

Indeed she was.

Little struck out 12, Jocelyn Leerschen homered and the Raiders advanced to the final of the Class 3A Benet Sectional with a 6-2 win over Fenwick.

Glenbard South (24-6), in a sectional final for the first time since 2016, will play St. Francis at 11 a.m. Saturday for the program's first sectional title since 2013.

That sounds good to Little, an Alma College commit and one of five Glenbard South senior starters.

"Honestly it would mean the world for me to win Saturday," Little said. "I've been a varsity starter for four years. We've lost that Saturday game and we want to keep going."

Little's also closing in on a big personal achievement. She's at 599 career strikeouts, five away from Jill Trzaska's program record 604.

"It just means that I've been working hard," Little said, "and the hard work is paying off."

It was big to have Little back on top of her game.

Glenbard South threw no-hitters in both its regional games, and Little kept up that good pitching. With a devastating rise ball, curve and change, she allowed just one run until Elena Vaccaro's solo homer in the seventh.

Little, who scattered six hits, struck out the side in the second inning, her biggest jam, to leave the bases loaded and the Raiders lead intact at 2-1.

"Ella was phenomenal," Fonda said. "We've been babying her a little bit through the injury, but this was important. She hits her spots and studies the game. She's not a strikeout pitcher but a lot of time she walks away with 12. She throws a nice curve and a nice rise, and it's tough to lay off."

Glenbard South gave Little all the offense she would need right off the bat.

Jessica Villa beat out an infield single to lead off the game. Two outs later, Leerschen lifted a fly ball that just crept over the fence in left beyond the Fenwick fielder's reach for a 2-0 lead.

"I kept a clear ahead, and I wanted to get the game rolling," said Leerschen, another senior. "I saw a pitch that I liked and I ripped it. I was watching my coach tell me not to look at the ball, and as I was rounding first I saw the girl hit the fence and it go over. That was a good moment for me."

Fonda couldn't agree more.

"It was huge. It just sets the tone," Fonda said. "From there it was flip the switch, and let Ella do her thing."

Villa, too, did her thing for the Raiders. She reached base four times, scored three runs and seemed to be in the middle of every Glenbard South rally.

"Jess was incredible," Fonda said. "She's been struggling a little bit, working a lot on keeping her shoulder in. The ups and downs of the season, it messes with you as a slapper. We've been pumping her full of positives."

Tess LoGiudice's RBI single got Fenwick a run back in the second, but Glenbard South used its little ball to squeeze a run in the third and sixth.

Villa and Elizabeth Cizek bunts, and two steals, led to a run in the third inning. In the sixth, Catherine Karr reached on an error and scored on a wild pitch.

The Raiders tacked on two more runs in the seventh, Fenwick (18-14) committing two more of their five errors.

"We knew they would play a lot of short game, we worked on it a lot all of practice," Fenwick coach Sarah James said, "but when it comes down to it you have to play the ball. It definitely got to us."

The Friars do return five starters from Thursday next year, and can draw on winning their third straight regional championship.

"We know our competition now. They're up to the challenge," James said. "We got beat by a good team, but we competed."

Glenbard South looks forward to competing against a team it has quite a history with. It's the fifth straight year the Raiders have met St. Francis in the playoffs, with the Spartans taking three of the last four games – including the last two.

"We've been waiting to play St. Francis all year," Leerschen said.