Wheaton Warrenville South softball scores early, often in win over Glenbard West

GLEN ELLYN – Wheaton Warrenville South and Glenbard West met Tuesday in Glen Ellyn as a nonconference tuneup to conference games Wednesday against Batavia and Oak Park-River Forest, respectively.

Although both teams boasted similar records, that would have been hard to believe for anyone at the game who wasn’t familiar with them.

The Tigers poured the runs on immediately to take control and not give it up in a 13-5 victory. Despite the early hole and a continued Tigers attack, the Hilltoppers scored enough for the game to go the full seven innings.

Wheaton Warrenville South (12-3) sent eight batters to the plate in the first inning against Ellie Adduci, who went the distance for Glenbard West (11-3), and scored four runs. The most crushing hits in that frame were RBI doubles from Lily Bobor and starting pitcher Avery Arnold.

“We’ve got like 17 girls on the team,” said Tigers coach Jeff Pawlak. “So when girls get opportunities, they know it’s competitive, and they work super hard in practice. And when they get opportunities in games like today, it’s really good to see ‘em come through.”

Glenbard West also had eight batters come up in the first inning but got only two runs out of it on an Ainslie Bobroff RBI single and a bases-loaded walk by Cece Atkinson.

The Hilltoppers had a chance to draw closer in the second with the bases loaded again, one out, one run already in, and Kate Hasbrouck having replaced Arnold in the circle. But a baserunner interference ruling at second base and a fly out to right prevented further scoring.

“You obviously want to capitalize when you put runners on base,” said Glenbard West coach Mary McGrane. “You gotta be able to push ‘em across. I think we probably could have made better adjustments at the plate offensively with their pitchers.”

The Tigers put the game away by batting around in the third and scoring five one-out runs. Eleanor Grout had an RBI double, Maria Knorr reached on an error on a squeeze bunt, Abby Mease reached on a fly to left, and Presley Wright finished the hitting with an RBI single.

“They just put some hard-hit balls in play,” Pawlak said. “We ran the bases really well.”

Grout and Knorr had back-to-back hits to lead off the fifth, and both came home on a Mease double.

“We all knew the umpire,” Grout said. “We all learned his zone at the beginning. We saw the top three batters, and everyone learned from that. Every time someone got on or someone scored or got out, we would talk to each other and just communicate what he wanted his zone (to be).”

With two outs in the top of the sixth, Hasbrouck, who had reached on a fielder’s choice, advanced on a Grout single, then scored on an errant throw from the outfield to give Wheaton Warrenville South a 13-3 lead.

Glenbard West prevented the run rule from going into effect in the bottom of the sixth against Arnold when Megan Stieglitz scored on a wild pitch. Shelby Bobroff tacked on an extra run immediately after.

All of the Hilltoppers’ runs were scored from three of the top four hitters in their lineup.

“As a captain, and as our other captains can do, we can just reassure them, ‘Don’t put too much pressure on yourself in these big moments, especially a nonconference game, a non-sectional game, too,’ ” Stieglitz said. “This sport is, you plateau at certain times, and you have really high times.”

https://www.dailyherald.com/20250429/softball/softball-ww-south-scores-early-often-in-win-over-glenbard-west/