Lincoln-Way East’s Sarah Esposito shuts down Bolingbrook

Lincoln-Way East pitcher Sarah Esposito didn’t hesitate when asked what the difference as in her pitching Friday against Bolingbrook.

“I spent (Thursday) tweaking a few of my pitches and it made a difference,” Esposito said.

The right-hander made good use of that extra time, striking out 12 in leading the Griffins to a 6-0 SouthWest Suburban Blue win over the Raiders. Esposito scattered four hits and walked one.

“It’s a great conference win. We came out strong,” East coach Elizabeth Pawlicki said after her team improved to 13-5 overall and 3-3 in conference.

“Sarah came out and did a great job, kept them off balance. Our pitchers have been doing a great job this season. They they are always coming through for us.”

The Griffins off came through early, scoring twice in the first inning and three more times in the second against Raiders pitcher Megan Lotarski.

Jenny Van Geertry (2-for-3, 2 RBI) got things going with an RBI double that scored Olivia Prieto (3-for-4, RBI). Taylor Szastak (2-for-4) later singled home Van Geertry.

Esposito sent the Raiders (10-9, 3-3) down in order in the first. Prieto had an RBI double in the second inning that scored Devan Morgan (2-for-4). Prieto later scored on a wild pitch. Van Geertry added an RBI single that scored Alana Selvaggio.

Lotarski didn’t allow another run until the sixth when Nikole Van Gennep singled in Blake Ruiz (2-for-4) for the final run of the game.

“It’s been a tough offensive year for us,” Bolingbrook coach Jean Ryan-Moak said. “We struck out 12 times on pitches we shouldn’t be swinging at. That’s a lack of discipline. When Megan strikes out 11 we’re not helping her at all, for sure.”

Lotarski gave up five earned runs, 13 hits and didn’t allow a walk. She had two of her team’s four hits. The Griffins stranded 10 baserunners.

“We talk about scoring every inning and we can’t strand all those runners,” Pawlicki said. “Just some things that we have to continue to work on.

“We saw a great pitcher. We’re seeing a lot of that in our conference.”