Taylor Vescogni no-hits Streator, leads La Salle-Peru into 3A regional title game

PONTIAC – Seconds after the La Salle-Peru Cavaliers' postgame huddle broke following their 9-0 Class 3A Pontiac Regional semifinal victory over longtime rival Streator, ace pitcher Taylor Vescogni stood on the edge of the infield dirt with a smile on her face and the team’s WWE-style Player of the Game belt in her hands.

Oh, and a no-hit, complete game, postseason shutout to her credit.

Vescogni walked three, hit one and struck out nine Tuesday as the Cavaliers (30-5) eliminated the Bulldogs (10-24) in decisive fashion to earn a spot in Friday’s championship game against either Kankakee or the regional host Indians. The junior right-hander did not allow a ball to be hit out of the infield and pitched with a lead throughout, as L-P scored in three of its first four turns at bat.

“I knew coming in they were going to try laying off of my riseball, so I had to work lower in the zone with some harder fastballs, then work off my changeup too” Vescogni said. “I felt like that worked better, because they were taking my riseball, which a lot of teams have been doing later in the season.

“It worked out pretty well.”

“It’s getting to be customary from her,” Cavaliers coach Randy Huebbe said. “That’s like her seventh no-hitter this year. She worked really hard in the offseason. What she did in the offseason before this year compared to last year was just unbelievable.”

Like Vescogni, the La Salle-Peru offense was firing on all cylinders from the start.

Leadoff batter Karmen Piano drew a walk in every one of her four at-bats, coming in to score after three of them. That included in the first inning on a Kelsey Frederick RBI single up the middle that made it 1-0 after one.

The Cavs added insurance they would not need with a four-run second (Grace Pecchio, Lydia Steinbach and Callie Mertes with RBI hits) and a four-run fourth.

Streator, however, was able to stop the bleeding there and force the red-hot Cavaliers to play a full seven-inning game. Caitlin Talty (3 IP, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 H, 3 BB, 4 K) proved an effective reliever for Makenna Ondrey (3+ IP, 8 R, 7 ER, 7 H, 5 BB, 3 K) in the latter’s final prep game.

But while they held L-P at nine runs, the Bulldogs could not mount any sort of meaningful threat against Vescogni.

“I was happy that we did go seven innings after the way we started,” Streator coach Louis Ondrey said. “I felt like we came out a little nervous and tight. That’s something we haven’t been doing. We’ve been playing pretty well lately up until now, but today we just didn’t have it.

“[Vescogni’s] a great pitcher, she was changing it up pretty good on us, and our top of the order wasn’t touching her. I knew we were in trouble at the beginning when we couldn’t make solid contact. ...

“Like I told the girls, it was a fun season. We stuck together, worked together, and we went out and had fun, played some softball.”

Mertes and Frederick finished with one hit and two RBIs apiece for the Cavaliers, with Steinbach bunting for two hits and an RBI. Piano scored three runs and stole four bases on a day L-P swiped 12 total.

Kankakee (16-9) and Pontiac (22-9) met Wednesday for the right to play top-seeded L-P, with the host Indians the favorite to advance to Friday’s 4:30 p.m. regional title game.

“We’ve got to hit the ball,” Huebbe said of Friday’s championship game. “We’ve been working two weeks now on Elana [Krause, Pontiac’s Stanford-bound ace pitcher]. Everyone else has too, and it hasn’t worked, so we’ll see.

“It’s going to be tough, but I feel like if we can put one or two up with [Vescogni] pitching, we’ll have a chance.”