MARENGO, Ill.—Any time a batter blasts a grand slam, they pretty much instantly become their pitcher’s best friend.
Now North Boone’s Cami Carter certainly isn’t the narcissistic type, but even she had to be giving herself a pat on the back for the extra run support after the senior cleared the bases with her huge bomb to right field in the second inning.
The righty also threw seven shutout innings from inside the circle as the fourth-seeded Vikings won their IHSA 2A sectional semifinal 12-0 against No. 7 Bureau Valley at Marengo High School on a breezy but warm and sunny Wednesday evening.
It was North Boone's first sectional victory in program history.
“(The grand slam) did help,” said Carter, who went 1-for-2 with a pair of walks. “I was thinking, 'I just need a couple more runs and I'll be at ease on the mound, I'll be able to work.’ Being able to hit that for myself, it made me feel better, more loose and relaxed instead of uptight.”
Carter sent Storm starter Madison Smith’s 2-1 pitch right into the jet stream that was gusting out in right field to help make it 5-0.
“One of my coaches was like, 'You've been hitting to the right side. The wind's blowing that way today so if you're going to hit it that way, it's going to go over,’” Carter said.
Haven Hahn hit a one-out single that was followed by Sydney Goodman reaching on an error after the third baseman misplayed her bunt and Lauren Stefek worked a walk to set up Carter’s homer.
“It's a big hit for the team and drives in a lot of runs, but it also motivates her on the mound to pick it up,”head coach Tim Fleming said. "And she did. She locked it down after the first couple innings. There's some good hitters in that lineup, and she worked her way through it and did a very good job.”
Carter struck out nine Bureau Valley batters and allowed just five hits while not walking a batter.
“We're throwing quite a few rise balls today,” the senior said. “Other than that, it was just timing because I slowed some of my pitches up and I sped up some.”
Carter worked around two singles in both the first and sixth inning to keep her statline clean.
Bureau Valley committed three errors with the intense wind causing a few misplays on fly balls. It made the Vikings’ defense clean performance all the more impressive as they didn’t commit a single miscue.
“They always have my back,” Carter said. “They were ready to get to the ball and make those plays.”
Avarie Torres drew a two-out walk and scored on Abby Galarza’s double over the center fielder to cap off the five-run second.
Galarza went 2-for-3 with two RBI, and the freshman has been on fire this postseason as she had two hits in Friday’s win over Marengo and one hit in the regional opener against Johnsburg.
“Abby was a kid that started on the JV and we were just getting ready to pull her up on the varsity when she suffered an ankle injury,” Fleming said. “We wanted to rest her and get her healthy for the postseason because we knew what her bat could contribute. She comes in with no fear, sees the ball well and puts really hard contact on it.”
Torres had put North Boone up 1-0 in the first with her one-run single over the left fielder’s head, and the junior started the fifth with a hard-hit double to right, moved to third on a ground out and scored on Marlee Alderman’s groundout to short.
It was another great game for Torres, who Fleming described as one of his hottest hitters this postseason.
“It’s mainly confidence,” Torres said. “Just knowing what I can do and not trying to get big hits, just trying to get on base, hit line drives and help my team the best I can. It definitely feels good to help do it because we want to make a deep playoff run.”
Smith was solid for the Storm from the third through the sixth inning with Torres’ double the only hit she allowed.
But the Vikings exploded for a five-run seventh to chase her and turn the game into a rout.
Torres, Galarza and Hahn all had one-run singles, Olivia Johnson hit an RBI double and Alderman brought a runner home on a sacrifice fly.
“It just helps to know that up and down, we're all good hitters,” Torres said. “We can all get on base and all help each other out. Even if someone's not having the best game, we can all contribute when someone's off.”
Torres had a team-high three hits while Hahn added two as seven of North Boone’s hitters recorded at least one hit and all nine either scored a run or brought one home.
The Vikings finished with 11 total hits.
“Tim (Fleming) did research on the pitcher, so he had me and Camdyn (Hall) throw the girls what we thought they'd be throwing us,” Carter said. “We were ready to get our bats rolling and just ready to keep going. We don't want to stop.”
The Vikings will next play third-seeded Richmond-Burton, which stomped No. 5 Genoa-Kingston 18-3 in their sectional opener, in Marengo on Friday at 4:30 p.m.
“(Hailey) Holtz is a very good pitcher,” Fleming said. “We just have to put the ball in play and try to manufacture some runs. We know Cami can go toe to toe with anybody, so we're excited.”
• LINESCORE:
NORTH BOONE 12, BUREAU VALLEY 0
NB 150 010 5 — 12 11 0
BV 000 000 0 — 0 5 3
Leading hitters: NB, Torres 3x3, 3 Runs, 2 RBI; Galarza 2x4, 1 Run, 2 RBI; Hahn 2x4, 1 Run, 1 RBI; Carter 1x2, 1 Run, 4 RBI; Johnson 1x4, 1 Run, 1 RBI; Stefek 1x4, 2 Runs; D. Goodman 1x4, 1 Run; S. Goodman 0x5, 1 Run; Alderman 0x3, 2 RBI. BV, Maynard 2x3; Wright 2x3; Reglin 1x2.
Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): NB, Carter (W) 7.0-5-0-0-0-9. BV, Smith (L) 6.1-11-12-10-4-5, Reglin 0.2-0-0-0-0-1.
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