By Michael Wojtychiw
It’s a pitcher’s dream to throw a perfect game. The amount of skill it takes to not only not allow a team to not get a hit, but not walk anyone as well is quite great.
For Lane senior pitcher Kailey Hancock, it had already happened earlier in the year in just her second game of te year, when she pitched a perfect game against washington, striking out all 15 hitters in a five-inning run rule victory for the Champions.
The Roosevelt commit was back at it again Friday when the Champions took on Hancock in the first semifinal of the Chicago Public League conference tournament hosted by UIC.
While she didn’t strikeout every hitter she faced this time, she fanned 17 in a 5-0 win against Hancock, helping her squad reach yet another softball city title game.
“I had no idea,” she said. “Everyone was coming to me saying ‘congrats! congrats!’ and I looked to my friends and asked ‘What did I do?’
“It’s pretty crazy. I feel like I work hard in the offseason and it pays off on the field. I can’t do it alone though, I can’t do it without my teammates.”
Hancock, the pitcher, struck out her first six opponents, but wasn’t only dealing on the mound. She helped her own cause in the bottom of the first when she laced a single that would score Emma Dow and Gianna Phillips to give the Champions a 1-0 lead after the first inning.
Hancock’s counterpart on the mound, Alyssa Lopez settled down after the rough first inning, not allowing another run until the bottom of the fourth inning when lane put up three courtesy of a two-RBI single by Phillips, who would then come around to score on an error during the next at-bat.
For Hancock, it was only her eighth game on the mound and sixth start after missing time early in the season thanks to a sprained ankle. That, however, means that she’s rounding into mid-season form as the season comes into the playoffs.
“My arm is feeling great,” she said.
The Champions play Taft Monday for the city title at UIC at 5:30 p.m. Lane defeated the Eagles 4-3 on March 22.
