Class 4A softball: Jager’s walk-off single pushes Lincoln-Way Central past Lockport 2-1 for sectional title

NEW LENOX – Lincoln-Way Central hadn’t found itself in the position it was in Friday against Lockport in the Class 4A Lincoln-Way Central Sectional championship game very often this season.

Despite falling behind by a run in the top of the first inning, the Knights rallied to capture a 2-1 win when Josie Jager singled through the middle in the bottom of the seventh to score Isabella Olmos with the winning run.

Lincoln-Way Central advances to the supersectional at The Ballpark in Rosemont at 6:30 p.m. Monday against Marist, which beat Downers Grove North 1-0 in 12 innings.

Lockport got a triple from Rheanna Slavicek to lead off the game, and Slavicek came home to score on an RBI groundout by Ava Swain to give the Porters a 1-0 lead against Knight pitching ace Bella Dimitrijevic.

“We haven’t had to chase runs very often this year,” Lincoln-Way Central coach Jeff Tarala said. “But Bella did a great job of keeping us in the game and holding them right where they were at one run.

“Lockport battled and made life difficult for us. Josie has been our best hitter all year. Coming into this game, she was hitting .633 with runners in scoring position, so she is someone we wanted to see at the plate in the last inning.”

Dimitrijevic finished with a two-hitter – both hits by Slavicek – and struck out 12 against one walk, also to Slavicek. Slavicek was the only Lockport player to reach base.

Meanwhile, Lockport sophomore Bridget Faut was matching Dimitrijevic out for out until the Knights tied it in the bottom of the fourth on a sacrifice fly by Kendall Pearson, scoring Kayla Doerre, who led off the inning with a double and went to third on a single by Jager.

Dimitrijevic was intentionally walked to load the bases before Pearson’s sacrifice fly. Faut then retired the next two batters to end the threat.

The Knights again loaded the bases with one out in the sixth, but Faut worked out of the jam again, inducing a short fly to left that was too shallow to allow a tag and then a fly to center.

In the bottom of the seventh, Olmos led off by beating out a grounder to short for a hit and was sacrificed to second by Alexis Youngren. After a walk to pinch hitter Ellie McLaughlin, Doerre grounded to short, moving the runners to second and third. Jager followed by hitting a 1-0 pitch through the middle to bring home the winning run.

“I knew I had to get the job done,” Jager said. “That’s my job as a hitter. Get on base, move the runners up or drive them in.

“I wasn’t nervous when we were behind. I knew we would pull through. This team really supports each other and we know we will get the job done. We owed them from last year [when Lockport beat Lincoln-Way Central in the sectional].”

Aside from Slavicek, Dimitrijevic was perfect. She mixed in enough changeups to complement her overpowering fastball and had the Porters off balance.

“It’s a little different for us to be chasing the lead,” she said. “I am so happy for Josie that she got the winning hit. I was on deck, but I wanted her to get the hit and win it right there.

“When I go against a team like Lockport that is going to put the ball in play a lot, I try to get them to hit easy grounders or fly balls and I have confidence in the defense that they will get the job done, which they did. We are not done yet. It will be fun to play at The Ballpark.”

Lockport coach Marissa Chovanec was happy with her team’s season as a whole and its performance in the final game.

“This was a great sectional game between two great teams,” she said. “Bridget Faut really showed that she can pitch at the varsity level. RJ [Slavicek] had Bella’s number today, getting on base all three times. [Assistant coach] Angie [Cushman] said that RJ stayed after practice yesterday to hit more, and that hard work paid off today. We needed to put the ball in play more after we scored. I think we struck out five times in the next two innings. But, a pitcher like Bella will do that. It’s like this every time we play.

“We had a bit of a tough time this year. We lost our starting shortstop at the beginning of the season, and we had to shut down our No. 1 pitcher at the end of the season. But everyone stepped up and did the job when they got an opportunity. We are a pretty young team and a lot of those young players got some great experience.”