ROSCOE — Denny McKinney wasn’t making any apologies if it seemed like he wasn’t going all out to win Hononegah’s second-to-last regular season game.
That was a 13-9 loss against host Harlem last Thursday night that ended the Indians’ chances for an unbeaten NIC-10 season.
“We had already clinched the conference championship,” the Indians head coach explained. “There was no way I was going to have (ace pitcher) Aislynn (Palmer) face Harlem. Or (No. 2) Zoey Calhoun, either.”
That was fine with Palmer, who has logged plenty of innings this spring and could use the time off.
“This week and last week have been a little rough, but I’ve been pushing through it,” she said. “Honestly, I don’t think the spin on my pitches has been that great lately, but I’ve been able to keep people off balance and I’m not giving up a lot of big hits.”
Palmer was back in the circle Friday night and Hononegah was back on top, routing visiting Rockford Guilford at Swanson Park 11-1.
The only run the sophomore allowed was one of those rare “big hits” — a home run by the second batter of the game, Jordan Hanserd. Palmer blasted her own ninth home run of the season and Hononegah improved to 28-3 overall and finished 15-1 in conference play.
The Indians open IHSA play on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. playing NIC-10 foe Rockford East at the Harlem Community Center Diamonds. In regular-season play, Hononegah swept East 13-0 and 10-0 so McKinney isn’t likely to start Palmer, who in 70 innings has allowed 43 hits and 17 earned runs with 15 walks and 124 strikeouts. She has an ERA of 1.60.
The Indians will try to avoid repeating last season when they followed up a conference title and 28 wins by being upset by Hampshire 4-2 in eight innings in an IHSA 4A regional final.
Hononegah let a 2-0 lead in the seventh inning slip away in that one. Senior pitcher Lexi Bach and freshman Palmer were nearly unstoppable for much of the season. But the Whip-Purs got to the duo late and the Indians stranded too many base runners.
“Last year was really disappointing the way it ended,” Palmer said. “But we’ve had a really successful season again this year and we’re proud of what we’ve accomplished.”
The Indians graduated four all-conference players and have just two seniors in this year’s starting lineup: catcher Danielle Franz (.418 BA, seven homers, 35 RBIs) and first baseman Natalie Kinney (.409, three homers, 21 RBIs). Freshman second baseman Kaelyn Kelly leads the team in batting average at .458 with 35 runs, 25 RBIs and 15 stolen bases.
In terms of starters, Hononegah boasted one of the youngest teams in the NIC-10. McKinney said the youngsters have played like veterans, with Thursday’s game at Harlem an exception.
“We did not play well,” the coach said. “We really showed our youth. We had baserunning mistakes. We threw the ball around a bit. We had played the Belvidere North game the night before and clinched with that win. The emotion of that game and then coming into the Harlem game wanting to rest Aislynn and Zoey and not have Harlem see them again before playoffs, maybe that explains why we seemed a little lackadaisical. But I don’t think I would do it any differently.
“The game really didn’t mean anything. We’ve lost two games in conference in three years. It wasn’t going to kill us. But we did need to bounce back with Aislynn on the mound (Friday) and we did.”
“We are human and we are young and we’re going to lose sometimes, but it’s a matter of learning from it and helping it motivate you the next time,” said Palmer.
Franz said the Indians expect to be a difficult matchup for any team.
“We have a great 1-2 punch with Aislynn and Zoey and a solid defense behind them,” she said. “Offensively, we really hit well through the whole lineup so we don’t depend on one or two players. Anyone can get hot and give us a spark in any given game.”
Palmer allowed Guilford two hits and one run in 5 2-3 innings with nine strikeouts. Irelyn O’Brien pitched the final 1 1-3 scoreless innings.
The Indians tied Guilford in the bottom of the first when Calhoun tripled and Palmer knocked her in with a single. They took the lead in the second. Peyton Klikno doubled and scored on a single by Kelly.
Hononegah went up 3-1 in the fourth on a sacrifice fly by Kelly, and then tallied seven in the fifth. The big blows were a three-run homer by Mackenzie Haas and solo shot by Palmer.
The Indians finished with 14 hits, including three by Klikno and two apiece by Calhoun, Kinney, Irelyn O’Brien and Haas.
• LINESCORE:
HONONEGAH 10, GUILFORD 1
R. Guilford 100 000 0 — 1 3 2
Hononegah 110 170 x — 10 14 0
Leading hitters: RG, Janserd 1x2, 1 run, 1 rbi; Solely 1x3; Thompson 1x3. Hon, Kelly 1x4, 2 rbi; Calhoun 2x4, 1 run, 1 rbi; Palmer 2x4, 1 run, 2 rbi; Kinney 2x4, 1 run; O’Brien 2x4, 1 run; Klikno 3x4, 3 runs, 2 rbi; Haas 2x3, 1 run, 3 rbi. 2B: Klikno. 3B: Calhoun. HR: Hanserd, Palmer, Haas.
Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): RG, Hanserd (L) 6.0-14-10-9-2-3. Hon, Palmer (W) 5.2-2-1-1-2-9; O’Brien 1.1-1-0-0-0-1.
Most Popular
Comments / 0