In their 2022 home farewell, the Triton College softball team conquered both Illinois Valley Community College and the heat Tuesday to book a double-elimination playoff duel Saturday with South Suburban College at Read Park in Freeport, Ill.
Shortstop
Celeste Boshold muscled up for crucial homers in each of the two games in the best-of-three NJCAA Region 4 Division II playoffs opening round. Meanwhile,
Alyssa Stramaglia (win No. 21),
Claire Stillwell and reliever
Brooke Braden held off the visitors well enough in the 8-4 and 6-0 victories to boost the Trojans' record to 46-7.
As Triton Coach
Christina Christopher maneuvered her roster to get fresh bodies in to combat the 90-degree temperatures and high humidity, the Triton lineup came alive in response to an Illinois Valley comeback in Game 1.
Then Boshold staked Stramaglia to a 3-0 first-inning lead , which was all the hopeful All-American needed in a three-hit, 11-strikeout complete game made possible with a relative economy of pitches in the tropical air.
The Trojans found out they were battling two opponents Tuesday – the Eagles and the heat.
"It was really tough going from 60 to 90," said Boshold. "It felt like 100. The heat kicked our butts today."
Christopher had a relatively quick hook with effective first-game starter Stilwell. But Stramaglia got into a rhythm, walked just one and did not throw one extra pitch than necessary to stay in while working up her sweat.
"It definitely is a lot of different than 60 the other day," Stramaglia said. "The turf gets real hot. It gets you tired and you have to push through it. You're definitely exhausted."
Christopher had an interesting strategy to hold off Stramaglia for the second game rather than employing her for a potential quick-kill in the opener. The coach possibly had two bits of logic: to have Stramaglia working in declining visibility in the late afternoon and against a team already tired from the first game.
Eagles Game 1 starter Ally Gullette held the Trojans to just three runs through five innings on
Melissa Gonzalez's RBI double in the first inning and
Breanne Deutscher's RBI triple to right center in the second inning, with the third run tallying on an error. Stillwell held the Eagles scoreless, but was pulled when she issued a leadoff walk in the sixth.
Illinois Valley loaded the bases with none out against Braden. But after
Katlyn Cherry's adept fielding at third resulted in two forces at the plate, the visitors tied the game on Lauren Phillips' two-run single to center and Gianna Neil's single off the wall.
"It was a little nerve-wracking, but I knew we would get the lead," said Boshold.
She took matters into her own hands in the bottom of the sixth, slugging a two-run homer just inside the left-field foul pole off Gullette to give Triton a 5-3 advantage.
"I was a little nervous," said Boshold. "I usually don't swing at first-pitch strikes. A once in a lifetime experience."
Moments later,
Alexis Maldonado belted another two-run homer off Gullette, with a fifth run soon scoring to complete the big rally.
Boshold lifted whatever pressure Stramaglia may have felt off her in the first inning of the second game with a three-run homer, after the Trojans ace had fanned the side in the top of the inning.
"It was just a relief," said Boshold. "First-at-bat, three runs, we definitely had that to piggyback off."
Adding to the Triton lead were a
Taylor Schwartz single up the middle in the third and
Julianna Acevedo's line-drive homer in the fourth.
Yet even with the twin victories, Stramaglia felt a bit of melancholy. The triumphs were the final home games for sophomores like her.
"It's kind of sad, knowing it's my last time pitching on this field," Stramaglia said. "In high school (Fenwick), we played here all the time."
Home indeed was where the Trojans' collective heart was, finishing with a 23-2 record. And wherever they go next in the NJCAA Division II playoffs, they hope to bring some heat of a different kind to opponents.
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(Story by tritonathletics.com contributor George Castle)
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