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Sports

Softball: Christner's Blast, Hofer's Pitching Power Andrew Past L-W East

Andrew 2, Lincoln-Way East 0: Kelly Christner's home run in third inning lifts Brooke Hofer and the Thunderbolts to a regional championship victory.

Touching All the Bases: One big hit proved to be the difference Saturday.

Sophomore Kelly Christner smacked a two-run home run over the left-field fence in the top of the third inning and Andrew went on to beat Lincoln-Way East 2-0 in the Class 4A Lincoln-Way East Regional final in Frankfort.

Christner’s fourth home run of the season was plenty of support for winning pitcher Brooke Hofer, who pitched a four-hit shutout to improve her record to 18-9.

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Andrew, which is seeded No. 6, has won 13 of its last 15 games after winning its second straight regional crown and eighth title in 10 years.

Lincoln-Way East, which was seeded No. 3, saw its two-year regional title streak come to an end. This is only the third time in the program’s 10-year history that the Griffins failed to bring home a regional championship.

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Patch’s MVP: Brooke Hofer. Andrew’s junior pitcher saved one of her best performances for when the season was on the line. Hofer never allowed more than one hit in any inning, striking out four and walking one in the complete-game effort.  

Andrew’s Leaders: In addition to Hofer: Kelly Christner (2-run home run), Shannon Rust (2-for-4, run), Dani Bestwina (2 sacrifice bunts, walk), Jessie Tucker (1-for-3, double), Samantha Staisiunas (1-for-2, walk), Jenna Lenza (1-for-3).

Lincoln-Way East’s Leaders: Jill Reid (3-for-3), Megan Butler (1-for-3), Carissa Ernat (sacrifice bunt, walk).

Quotable I: Andrew coach Jim Holba on the regional championship: “It’s a good reward for the girls. They’ve worked hard and they’ve earned the right to play in the sectional. The biggest thing we talked about was performing when you have the opportunity and they really took care of that in every aspect today. They played well. Brooke was on her game today. She was moving the ball around and changing speeds. That was huge. The last month or so she’s really found a good groove.”

Quotable II: Andrew pitcher Brooke Hofer on her performance: “I just relied on my defense behind me, they were really good. I made them put the ball in play because I knew my defense would make the plays. It feels really good winning a regional. We were really pumped up and knew East was a really good team. We came out and played to the best of our ability. I think we can keep going if we play like this.”

Quotable III: Lincoln-Way East coach Katie Meader on the outcome: “You have to give credit to Kelly Christner. She’s a tremendous hitter and we knew that going into the ballgame. We still had plenty of game left to get those runs back and we had numerous opportunities to score. Walking away with a loss today was never expected to us. We wish we played to our potential.”

Team Records: Andrew improved to 27-9. Lincoln-Way East finished at 21-8.

What’s Next: Andrew will take on No. 7 Homewood-Flossmoor (19-14), which upset No. 2 Stagg Saturday, in the Class 4A Lockport Sectional semifinal at 4:30 p.m. Thursday. Andrew and H-F have not played each other this season.


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