Lemont’s Lisa Jaworski is still waiting to clear a fence with a mighty swing of her bat.
When she does, it’ll have to be one prodigious blast to be as grand as the slam she produced Friday in the Indians’ 9-5 victory over Homewood-Flossmoor in the Rosemont Dome.
With the bases loaded and two outs and Lemont trailing 4-3 in the bottom of the sixth inning, Jaworski got all of a curve ball by H-F pitcher Meagan Donermeyer and drove it well over the head of a sprawling Olivia Hamilton in center field.
The ball rolled all the way to the fence, allowing Jaworski to circle the bases along with three of her teammates. It was the decisive blow in a game that saw H-F score four times in the top of the sixth to erase a 2-0 deficit.
Rachel Hall had three hits, and Maddy Vermejan, Rylie Jay and Jaworski two each. Kayla Butler earned the win in relief as Lemont improved to 1-2.
Julia Wenckus (two hits) and Kasey Nemitz (two hits) paced H-F (0-3).
Jaworski’s slam followed a roller-coaster sequence in which Lemont, trailing 4-2 going into the half-inning, rallied as Jay singled, Lauren May smacked an RBI double, Anna Smagacz walked and Rachel Uher was hit by a pitch.
Clearly reeling, Donermeyer’s left arm then came to life as she struck out Brianna Olkiewicz and Karina Folliard, the latter on a wicked changeup. But her curve ball didn’t fool Jaworski.
“It was right down the middle,” Jaworski said. “I knew I had to hit it. I just did what I was taught, executed.”
An RBI triple by Vermejan and another run-scoring single by Jay capped the seven spot for Lemont and brought some satisfaction after losses in its first two games.
“It’s been a little frustrating but we’re coming back together, getting more excited and keeping our heads in the game,” Vermejan said.
Butler, who came on during H-F’s four-run outburst in the top of the inning against starter Jessica Spinelli, allowed one run in the seventh before closing out the Vikings.
For five innings, it was an excellent pitcher’s duel between Donermeyer.
Lemont scored the only two runs in the bottom of the first , the key blows a base hit by Hall and a double by Vermejan.
H-F, playing for the first time in the dome, had just one hit before the sixth, but then exploded behind a triple by Donermeyer, a double by Wenckus and singles by Nemitz, Morgan Williams and Gabby Cooke.
“As long as we hit and have good defense we should be fine,” Donermeyer said. “It was definitely different (hitting) indoors and it took some time, but we did for the most part play really good defense today. That’s going to keep us going.”
