Lockport advances to WJOL softball semifinals with 1st-round win over Minooka

JOLIET – 2024 was good to the Lockport softball team, and the belief was 2025 would be, as well. With six college commits on the roster, including a pair of Division I pledges, that made sense.

After a 3-0 start, however, the Porters entered Tuesday’s WJOL Softball Tournament having dropped back-to-back contests. So which version of Lockport would show up against Minooka, which entered with a 4-2 record?

It didn’t take long for the Porters to answer that question. They put up five runs in the first three innings en route to a 5-1 victory to advance to the second round at Inwood Athletic Fields. Lockport will play Providence Catholic after the Celtics downed Joliet Catholic 8-2 on Tuesday.

Lockport (4-2) got an outstanding performance in the circle from Kelcie McGraw. The Colgate commit struck out 14 batters while allowing two hits and one run. She also went 2 for 4 at the plate for an all around solid day when the wind chill was about 34 degrees.

“I felt good,” McGraw said. “It was a little cold at first, but I think just getting moving and going after a while it was fine. Once I got warmed up, it was going good from there.”

Of course, pitching only does so much without offense. The Porters got plenty of that in the third inning when they scored four runs. Liliana Janeczko (2 for 3), Taylor Lane (two RBIs, one run) and Olivia Picciola (two RBIs and one run) had strong days for the Porters.

“Minooka’s a great team,” coach Marissa Chovanec said. “They’ve been a great rival over the years. To come out with a win today 5-1 is a good day.”

The Porters produced nine hits, four of which came in the third inning. That was the inning that gave Lockport all the momentum and took some pressure off McGraw and the defense.

An RBI single by Lane scored Addison Way before Picciola’s RBI double scored Lane and Noelle Sustersic. Picciola later scored on an RBI triple by Mikayla Cvitanovich to make it 5-0 after Rheanna Slavicek scored on an error in the first.

“I always know our teams are going to come up with the hits,” McGraw said. “I just stayed focused on my pitching. When they actually get the hit, it just brings relief because I know we’re just going to keep stacking them up.”

While it was a strong effort all around, the Porters will be looking to take advantage of more opportunities after stranding 10 runners on base, including loaded bases in the first and sixth.

“We need to play solid defense and get even better hitting,” McGraw said. “We’re going to be playing teams that are even better, so we need to stay focused.”

For Minooka (4-3), it was a frustrating setback. While Marina Hristov put up a solid effort in 3⅔ innings of relief (two hits, three strikeouts), three earned runs allowed by Emma Best and a pair of errors by the defense led to Lockport gaining the advantage.

Minooka’s own offense couldn’t balance it out as the Indians managed just two hits, although one of them was a solo home run by Karli McMillin in the top of the sixth.

“We need to do better with two strikes and put the ball in play,” coach Mark Brown said. “I think we just looked at too many strike threes. We struck out 14 times, didn’t really put the ball in play or force their defense to make many plays on a cold day, so we need to put the ball in play more.”

With weather concerns Wednesday, the WJOL tournament has seen some rescheduling. Lockport will play Providence Catholic on Thursday for a chance to make the final, while Minooka will take on Joliet Catholic the same day in the consolation bracket.