Softball: Erin Metz’s 15-strikeout one-hitter sends Wheaton North past Plainfield East into sectional final

PLAINFIELD – Erin Metz has her routine, and she sticks to it.

After every pitch, the Wheaton North senior and Valparaiso commit steps out of the circle and scoops up her rosin bag.

After every inning, Metz takes it back to the dugout with her.

“It slows the game down for me, and makes sure I’m not rushing. It lets me take a breather, and it’s always been like that,” Metz said. “It helps me grip the ball, but even when I don’t need it I go to it.”

Even amid a postgame celebration, Metz made sure not to forget her trusty security blanket.

She indeed had a grip on things Wednesday.

Metz struck out 15 batters in an overpowering one-hit performance, taking a perfect game into the fifth. Reagan Crosthwaite’s three-run base hit in the fifth provided all the offense Metz would need as top-seeded Wheaton North beat 14th-seeded Plainfield East 3-0 in a Class 4A Plainfield North Sectional semifinal.

Wheaton North (29-6), already winners of its first conference and regional titles in 38 years, advances to play second-seeded Oswego in Friday’s sectional final.

And Metz, its four-year varsity starter, is a huge reason why.

Metz allowed just one baserunner, Avery Welsh’s two-out single in the fifth. Metz struck out the first four batters she faced, twice struck out the side, and her 15th strikeout finished it off.

“Lights out,” Wheaton North coach Allie Ravanesi said. “She was zoned in all day. Not that she isn’t every other day, but she really wants this, and she’s proving to herself that she wants it. She’s really focused.”

Metz has multiple pitches in her repertoire, but her rise ball was the money pitch Wednesday. Plainfield East hitters couldn’t catch up.

Metz realized that early on and kept going back to the well. She got her first strikeout on a called third strike on a changeup, but most came through the rise.

“They kept swinging at it, so it was a pitch we kept going to,” Metz said. “Even in warmups it was working better than some of the other pitches. We went with that pitch and ran with it. Even if there wasn’t two strikes, even if there were no strikes, we kept it in our back pocket.”

Metz needed to be on her game with a capable foil on the opposite end.

Plainfield East junior Maya Patel, while not as overpowering as Metz with just three strikeouts, was nonetheless equally as effective most of the way.

With a stiff breeze blowing in, Patel used it to her advantage by generating six fly ball outs and one pop-up. The biggest came in the third, when Patel got Crosthwaite, who has 18 homers on the season, on an inning-ending fly out with runners on second and third.

Patel scattered seven hits and a walk.

“She’s been doing that all season,” Plainfield East coach Rebekah Grimes said. “She was mixing up her speeds well and she showed up in those crucial situations. She gave us an opportunity to stay in that game.”

Given a second opportunity, though, Crosthwaite delivered.

Alyssa Savenok, Moriah Herr and Monica Kading singled with one out in the fifth, and after a strikeout, Crosthwaite came up in a similar spot as the third inning.

This time she lined a single to right-center to bring in two runs, and the third runner came around to score on a bobble in the outfield.

“My second at bat, I hit a ball that I thought was good and it didn’t go anywhere,” Crosthwaite said. “My next at bat, I knew I had to be on top of the ball and use my top hand. I flattened out my swing a little bit. I just knew I had to come through in that moment.”

Kading and Herr each had two hits for Wheaton North. Kading reaching base all three times.

https://www.shawlocal.com/my-suburban-life/2024/05/30/softball-erin-metzs-15-strikeout-one-hitter-sends-wheaton-north-past-plainfield-east-into-sectional-final/