Softball: Emma Salis pitching, stellar defense team up to lead Oswego East past Waubonsie in season opener

AURORA – Emma Salis’ eyes widened when asked if she knew she had a perfect game going for four innings Friday.

“No, was I? Wow,” Oswego East’s senior pitcher said. “I was just trying to get through each inning.”

Salis had Waubonsie Valley just as off guard.

[ Photos: Oswego East vs. Waubonsie Valley softball ]

Effective if not overpowering, Salis took a perfect game into the fifth inning and a shutout into the seventh. Oswego East’s defense had her back with a number of spectacular plays in the Wolves’ 4-1 win in their first game after four cancellations.

Salis struck out four, but that’s not really her specialty.

Mixing a rise ball and two different types of curves, Salis keeps hitters off-balance and swinging under her offerings. Twelve of Waubonsie’s 21 outs Friday were popups, flyouts, or liners.

“I throw a curve and a rise that I rotate between each batter and it typically gets them to pop it straight up into the air or right to somebody,” said Salis, who allowed three hits and walked one. “People get annoyed because they’re hitting the ball but it feels great to me. I throw a slow curve and a knuckle curve so I can throw it underneath people’s bats and keep them off balance.”

The style might not seem to lend to dominant outings, but it’s nothing new to Oswego East coach Sarah Davies. Salis last season threw a four-hit shutout against Wheaton Warrenville South in the regional final.

“That’s the kind of pitcher she is. She pitches to popups, grounders and relies on her defense to get those ones,” Davies said. “It’s not like they’re hitting her hard. She has good movement and good spin, and she has great defense behind her.”

Waubonsie (2-3) did square up a number of balls, to no avail. Hannah Laub, also the losing pitcher, finally broke through off Salis with a solid single up the middle to start the fifth for Waubonsie’s first base runner. Laub broke up the shutout her next at bat, a homer to center to lead off the seventh.

“The pitcher is good. She was getting us to chase the high pitches a lot,” said Laub, who popped up her first at bat. “We were popping up a lot. We adjusted but it was too late.”

Indeed, Waubonsie’s Alison Keppler followed Laub’s homer with a drive to center that nearly left the yard for a two-run homer, but Oswego East center fielder Mia Corres chased it down near the fence.

Earlier, Corres came in and made a diving catch in short center to rob Waubonsie’s Gia Cobert of a base hit. Oswego East second baseman Gracie Vlach made a diving catch of an infield liner the play before and shortstop May Pasqualini made an over-the-shoulder grab of a pop fly in foul territory.

“Sometimes I feel like I don’t even need to turn around. I know she [Corres] is going to get it,” Salis said. “It’s very beneficial.”

Corres made her presence felt with the bat, too, reaching base all four times with two hits. She tripled in Madye Greenwood, who doubled, and scored on an error to make it 4-0 in the top of the seventh.

“Mia means the world to us,” Davies said. “She’s a difference-maker.”

Pasqualini used her bat and legs to manufacture Oswego’s first two runs.

The lefty-hitting junior poked an opposite-field single to left to start the third inning, stole second and third and scored on Greenwood’s infield chopper. In the fifth inning Pasqualini lined a single to left-center, stole second on the first pitch and eventually scored on Greenwood’s sacrifice fly.

“I just went up to bat trying to make solid contact,” Pasqualini said. “A lot of my offseason approach has been driving up the middle and hitting line drives. I’m not trying to hit home runs. I think Davies wanted to be aggressive going into the game so we had that aggressive approach.”

Hannah King also reached all four times for Oswego East, which banged out 10 hits off Laub.

Waubonsie coach Val Wood tipped her cap to the Wolves for their hitting and defense behind Salis.

“They were just making greats plays out there. Their defense backed her up, those plays they were making were impressive,” she said. “We have to do a better job of adjusting sooner. We were under the ball a lot. It was a good game. They got timely hits when they needed them.”