NCHS softball beats West for 23rd straight win

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

By Daniel Makarewicz      

NORMAL -- Kaity Crane cannot predict the future. Still, when she stood in the on-deck circle Tuesday afternoon, the Normal Community High School catcher could sense what was coming. Her intuition proved correct.  After watching the first two batters fly out to left field in the fourth inning, Crane noticed where the ball was being thrown. Five pitches later, Crane blasted a solo home run over the left-field fence that proved to be the game winner in the Ironmen’s 2-0 Big 12 Conference victory over Normal West at the NCHS field.

The win was the 23rd straight for NCHS (15-0, 6-0) since a 3-1 setback to Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin last May 19.

“When you see other people hitting to left field, you know that something is slowing down with the pitcher and people are starting to get ahead of the (pitch),” Crane said. “You kind of think about that and getting it over to left field.”  The feel of the swing made Crane confident the ball was gone.  “When I hit it,” she said, “I knew that it was going pretty far.”  The ball landed far enough to put the game away.

Pitching with the lead for the first time, sophomore hurler Megan Nonnemacher effortlessly shut down the bats of West (15-5, 4-2).  In the final three innings, Nonnemacher faced one over the minimum, did not allow a runner to reach scoring position and had five strikeouts.  “Every time we get a lead, I feel so much more relieved,” said Nonnemacher, who endured one three-ball count the entire game. “I get so much more strength in me, and I know that they’re behind me and they’re always going to be there.”  Nonnemacher displayed the trust. Of the nine outs that did not come via the strikeout, five came from the ground ball.  “Megan’s got the confidence in her defense,” said NCHS coach Bob Grimes, whose team received a run-scoring single from Kimmy Hassel in the fifth. “She knows if she can throw a pitch and they put it in play the defense, more than likely, is going to make the play.”

West finished with two singles and had one runner reach scoring position. In their last two losses — both shutouts — the Wildcats have had a total of five hits. 
“We didn’t perform at the plate,” West coach April Schermann said. “I don’t attribute it to anything other than sometimes you have great hitting days and sometimes you don’t. We didn’t have our best hitting game today.”