Softball: Taylor Macklin tosses shutout; Minooka uses timely hitting to get past Joliet West

JOLIET – When Mayson Carr hit a two-run double in the top of the sixth, naturally the Minooka dugout erupted in cheers.

But there was one person cheering louder than anyone else.

“I let out the loudest cheer in the dugout,” Minooka junior pitcher Taylor Mackin said. “It was huge to have a little breathing room.”

Carr’s hit made it a three-run lead. Mackin did the rest as the junior right-hander fired her first shutout of the season in a 3-0 victory over host Joliet West in a Southwest Prairie Conference matchup Wednesday.

The win moved Minooka (10-11, 3-2) to within a game of the .500 mark. While the Tigers (7-7, 3-2) fell back to .500.

“Yes, we definitely needed it,” Minooka coach Mark Brown said, “Especially coming off of yesterday [a 10-1 loss to Marian Catholic]. We have been winning one, losing one all season. We just need to string together a few wins.

“Taylor pitched a great game against Lincoln-Way East [an 8-3 win April 3] and threw her first shutout today. We knew that Joliet West would be revved up since we beat them [4-3 in the opening round of the WJOL Tournament on March 29], but she held them down.”

Mackin allowed six hits with no walks, while striking out five. With runners at second and third and one out in the bottom of the first, she got a strikeout and ground out to end the inning.

“My curve ball, my changeup, the offspeed stuff was working well. Plus, my defense was great behind me. It was a huge win.”

—  Taylor Mackin, Minooka junior

“I was just hitting my spots. I was locked in on the corners,” Mackin said. “My curve ball, my changeup, the offspeed stuff was working well. Plus, my defense was great behind me. It was a huge win.”

The Indians scored a run in the first. With one out, Mackin (1 for 3) walked on a full-count pitch and junior courtesy runner Paige Borton advanced to third when junior third baseman Madison Kelly hit a double off the left-field fence. Kelly, who was celebrating a birthday, finished 2 for 3 and flew out to deep left in the third.

Sophomore first baseman Gracie Anderson then skyed a deep drive to center. Although it was dropped for an error, Borton would have scored on a tag-up anyway. But sophomore Madison Jadron (7 IP, 3 ER, 4 H, 3 BB, 7 K) rebounded with a strikeout and a flyout to keep it at a one-run game.

That’s how it remained until the sixth. But both teams had scoring opportunities in the middle innings. Minooka hit into an inning-ending double play in the third that was scored 6-3-2 as the last out was recorded at home.

Avery Houlihan, a junior shortstop who was 2 for 3, led off the fourth with her second single. She moved to second on a wild pitch and third on a ground out. But she was then caught off third on a failed squeeze bunt attempt and tagged out after a long rundown.

With one out in the sixth, Anderson singled. With two outs, junior center fielder Sofia Dziuba walked. Carr, a sophomore right fielder who wasn’t on the varsity to start the season, then ripped her two-run double perfectly to the gap in left-center to make it 3-0.

“It felt really good,” Carr said. “I was in a slump but I got a high changeup and I just let it go.

“I was on the JV team to start the season but got called up after the first week. I felt a lot of pressure at first, but once I got the connection down everything felt a lot easier.”

Speedy junior center fielder Shelby Fraser (2 for 3) beat out her second infield single in the bottom of the sixth. But a pair of ground outs ended the inning. In the seventh, senior left fielder Mya Millsaps, who was 2 for 3 with a two-out triple in the fourth, singled up the middle.

But Mackin, who coaxed 13 groundouts in the game, got three more to end the game, which was over in 90 minutes.

“We outhit them (6-to-4), but they had timely hits and we didn’t,” Joliet West coach Heather Suca said. “They made the plays, but I thought we competed well. Everyone is doing their part. We had been playing more consistently, we just have to keep playing our game.”