EAST PEORIA, Ill. • Marengo pitcher Chloe Montgomery did Friday what only one other pitcher has been able to do to Civic Memorial this season: throw a 1-hitter.
Montgomery, a senior left-hander, tossed a one-hitter with eight strikeouts and the Indians scored all their runs on two-out hits in beating Civic Memorial 7-0 in the semifinals of the Class 3A softball tournament at EastSide Centre.
Marengo, winning its sixth straight, improved to 32-9 and will face LaSalle-Peru (25-6) in the championship game at 11:30 a.m. Saturday. Civic (30-6), which had won eight straight, will take on Glenbard South (28-6) for third place at 9:30 a.m.
"There's been some games where (Chloe's) gotten hit," Marengo coach Dwain Nance said. "But today she threw really well. She had a good game plan coming in, and she just executed the game plan really well. She hit all her pitches, and there were a few walks (four). But she didn't want to give in to the hitters."
Montgomery (25-6) carried a no-hitter into the top of the seventh. She struck out Kayla Kirkpatrick to start the frame before Allie Hill walked. McKenzie Satterfield ruined Montgomery's no-no with a bloop single to left-center on a 2-2 pitch.
Montgomery retired the final two batters to put the Indians in the school's first championship game.
Only Megan Wagner of Gibault had thrown a one-hitter against Civic this season, doing so March 22 when the Hawks thumped the Eagles 10-0 five innings.
"I thought we were ready, and I thought everything was great," Civic coach Mike Eddy said Friday. "Give them all the credit in the world. They really schooled us today."
Kirkpatrick said she was "surprised we really didn't hit that pitcher. She's good, but nothing better than what we've seen. I'm kind of surprised we didn't get more hits."
Marengo got the only run Montgomery needed in the bottom of the first when Stephanie Cartwright singled to left off Kirkpatrick (20-3) with two outs, stole second and scored on an RBI single by Montgomery. The Indians sealed the win in the second when they plated five by sending eight batters to the plate.
Three two-out hits provided the runs as Lauren Roudabush, Cartwright and Montgomery did the damage. Cartwright's hit was a two-run double and came with the bases loaded. Marengo added a final run in the third when Alysa Grude poked a two-out, first-pitch home run to center field. It was her third of the season.
"They're a good hitting team, and they hit the ball wherever I put it," Kirkpatrick said, wiping tears away. "My pitches weren't really moving the first half of the game, so that's tough, too. I definitely expected better of myself today. Everything wasn't moving as well as it had been."
After struggling through the first two innings by allowing seven hits, Kirkpatrick settled down in giving up three hits the rest of the way. She wound up with eight strikeouts and a walk to go along with 10 hits.
"I was thinking one run, OK, we'll be alright," she said. "But the second inning they get five. They're just hitting it wherever I put it. I just had to try to move my pitches a little better. Once I moved them a little more. They didn't score as many. It was just a rough start."
