Junior catcher Emme Barnes, of Brookfield, wanted to earn a downstate berth with the Nazareth Academy softball team Monday. Older sister Monica was a member of the Roadrunners’ only state qualifier, which finished third in Class 3A in 2017.
The Roadrunners battled but were edged by Fenwick 2-1 in the 3A Benedictine University Super-Sectional in Lisle. Nazareth (16-20) had seven hits but stranded four runners in scoring position. Both teams scored in the first inning before Fenwick (17-9) took the lead on a fourth-inning home run.
The Roadrunners return a strong corps, including Barnes, All-East Suburban Catholic pitcher Annabella Rychetsky, and center-fielder Kennedy Joe, all three-year varsity players. They graduate five starters, including All-ESCC pitcher/infielder Catie Luzzi.
This season, Barnes made catcher her primary position after often being used as a utility infielder. With the Roadrunners’ new uniforms, she switched to No. 64, the number worn by older brother Noah as a starting offensive lineman for Nazareth’s 2022 state championship football team.
“We left it all out there and played until the very end,” Barnes said. “[Our seniors] left as a sisterhood. How close we were helped us get here and all of the passion and love we have for each other and the game.”
The Friars scored with their first two hitters on an error and run-scoring double. Junior Joe led off the Nazareth first with a double and scored on a wild pitch.
“We knew it was going to be a really competitive game. I think we hit the ball hard but unfortunately we couldn’t punch through enough base hits to string together and score,” Nazareth coach Vicki Sobol said. “We played solid all around. They just maximized on the little mistakes we made.”
Fenwick also got clutch pitching from Sophie Stone, (5 strikeouts, 3 walks). One of three four-year players, Stone will play at Oberlin College.
Nazareth beat Fenwick 2-1 on March 22 with 15 strikeouts. Rychetsky had 11 Monday with no walks while allowing six hits. On Friday, she had an RBI single and threw a two-hitter with 11 strikeouts as Nazareth beat St. Laurence for the first time 1-0 to win the Hinsdale South Sectional, its first sectional title since 2017.
“[Monday’s game] was stressful to say the least. I felt like it was a roller coaster of emotions that eventually evened out and allowed me to play my game,” Rychetsky said. “We’ve taken the lessons that the seniors have given us and I feel we’re going to implement them really well next year.”
Fenwick is making its second state trip and first since finishing fourth in Class AA in 1998. Senior Ellie Kolb and junior Molly Mullen are Riverside residents. First-year head coach Valerie Jisa also lives in Riverside. Kolb joins Stone and third baseman Maddie Entler as four-year varsity players. Kolb was Stone’s courtesy runner Monday after her second-inning double.
“Awesome. It’s just a great way to end the four-year streak of softball here,” Kolb said. “I think we all came here amped up, ready to win and that’s what happened.”
In her third varsity season, Mullen played first base on Monday and Saturday, when she walked in the Friars’ three-run sixth that pulled out the Glenbard South Sectional final 5-3 over Elmwood Park. After Stone got a strikeout with the bases loaded to end the Tigers’ sixth, heavy rains in the seventh forced the game to be called.
“It’s a great feeling,” Mullen said Monday. “It’s definitely due to our coaching. We’re all relaxed in the dugout and we all want to be here.”