sduncan posted on May 25, 2009 23:45
By Sean Duncan
PLAINFIELD - A better bounce here, a break there, and Lincoln-Way Central wouldn’t have been required to play Monday in a Class 4A Naperville Central regional play-in game. As it turned out, the Knights, who faced a grueling schedule this season, didn’t get many favorable breaks and wound up losing seven games by one run, not to mention five non-conference defeats in the seventh inning alone.
Although somewhat deflating, you best believe that Lincoln-Way Central was battle-tested coming into Plainfield Central. And it showed. Behind a sterling pitching performance by junior Tom Helwich, the Knights advanced with an efficient 4-1 victory.
Lincoln-Way Central (16-15-1) moves on to play No. 2 seed Naperville North on Wednesday at Naperville Central.
Helwich (6-2) held Plainfield Central's (15-18) high-scoring offense in check, allowing six hits, striking out seven and walking five in a complete-game effort. The only run Helwich yielded was in the seventh on Derek DeYoung's triple.
"I felt real good in warm-ups," said Helwich, a 6-foot-3 left-hander. "I had all my pitches going."
Said Lincoln-Way Central coach Marty Dykas: “When Tom’s on the mound, we’re always in the game. He’s been like that all year.”
Lincoln-Way Central broke a scoreless tie in the fourth, and subsequently broke the game open in the fifth with three runs behind five singles. Tim Gindville (3-for-3, run, RBI), Chad Podkulski (2-for-4, run, RBI) and Mike Goshorn each had run-scoring singles in the fifth. Dan Murphy sparked the inning with a lead-off single.
“We’re not a team that pounds people,” said Dykas, whose team suffered narrow defeats to No. 2 Brother Rice, No. 3 Joliet Catholic, No. 7 St. Rita and Lockport, to name a few. “We’re a base-hit, station-to-station team who moves guys over.”
Sam Mampe, who had six put-outs at second base, contributed a double and single for the Knights.
Plainfield Central, which had scored 270 runs this season, stranded eight runners, including a bases-loaded opportunity in the second inning.
“That wasn’t our usual offensive performance,” said Plainfield Central coach Bob Dobbertin. “For whatever reason, we just didn’t do it today.”