Lincoln-Way Central continues to roll, beats Minooka

NEW LENOX – Lincoln-Way Central pitcher Lyndsey Grein doesn’t need much run support when she is in the circle, but Thursday afternoon she received plenty from her teammates as the Knights defeated Minooka, 11-1, in five innings.

Central stayed perfect on the young season, as did Grein, as they are now 6-0.

“We came into the season a little blind, especially with only seven days of practice, but we knew we had good pieces to put this team together with,” Central coach Jeff Tarala said. “Lyndsey is an incredible athlete, but she also knows she has the defense behind her, we can hit and she has complete trust in this team. To win you need all the pieces, not just one, and we have received exceptional outfield play, the middle infield has been very good.”

It looked like Grein also may be the star early with the bat, as she had an RBI single in the first inning with two outs after a couple of walks. The scored stayed 1-0 until the bottom of the fourth inning when the Knights scored three unearned runs to make it 4-1.

In the top of the fifth, Minooka’s Abbie Davis launched a home run, that was followed by two walks and it looked like Minooka (2-4) may get to Grein. But the junior pitcher recorded the next two outs to kill the Indians hopes.

“That fifth inning was the turning point in the game for us offensively,” Minooka coach Mark Brown said. “We had done a great job of getting her [Grein] to start pitching to us and getting her deeper into counts, then their second baseman makes a great play on the line drive and it’s inning over.

“We have played great four-inning games this season and then we seem to shoot ourselves in the foot. The good thing is it’s early and we have played some great teams, and give Central credit tonight they are good and you can’t give good teams extra at bats. They took advantage of everything we gave them tonight.”

Central scored seven runs in the fifth inning on six hits and an error, with a big two-run home run from senior catcher Bella Wilkerson. Carly Alvers had a double and the game-ending single to give the Knights the 10-run rule victory.

“I’m so excited because I’ve never hit a home run to right field,” said Wilkerson, a right handed batter. “She kept throwing me change-ups and then came with an outside fastball, and I just went to right, and I knew as soon as I hit it that it was gone.

“This season has been so awesome already with everyone on this team. Coach has given us a word for the season and that is joy. We come out here everyday and have fun and just enjoy everything we have again. Being the catcher for Lyndsey is so awesome. We play travel together, and I have seen her improve so much over the years, and I wish I still had one more year left with her.”