Shiocton Struggles Against Pacelli Pitching
Pacelli came out on top of a pitchers battle, ending Shiocton’s first ever trip to State with a 3-0 win. Brook Nagorski was at postseason form with 10 strikeouts and only giving up four hits in the shutout.
“Pitch selection was a issue and as we got down in the count,” Shiocton coach Dave Wilcox said. “We started swinging at pitches we probably shouldn’t have.”
Nagorski has only played 13 games since she returned from an injury that made her miss most of April. Wilcox said she is one of the best in the conference.
“She was player of the year last year and we knew what to expect,” coach Wilcox added.
“All game we were just out of our element hitting,” said Sydney Wilcox. “Brooke was throwing us high and we were chasing. It wasn’t a good hitting outing, so that kind of put a damper on everything.”
Nagorski held Shiocton without a hit for the first three innings. Jackie Korth broke up the no-hitter with a one-out single in the fourth, but the Chiefs were unable to manufacture the run.
Pacelli scored all three of their runs in the sixth inning. With two runners on, Kara Kluck cleared the bases with a triple to the fence to break the game open.
“I think the big turning point was when they hit that big triple and then we all just shut down even more,” said Sydney Wilcox. “I mean we came back in the last inning and had the bases loaded and that’s good, but you could just tell we were stunned when we were hitting.”
“I was happy we made a run at the end there and the errors hurt, but they were physical, not mental,” Dave Wilcox said.
Shiocton had four errors in the game.
Sydney Wilcox is the team’s lone senior and played her final game in a Shiocton uniform, and for her dad.
“It is tough to see this end, but it will be great to have her play at the next level and have her play for someone other than dad,” Dave Wilcox said with tears.
“I’m truly blessed. If you think about it, it was going to end sometime. It was either going to end today or it’s gonna end tomorrow,” Sydney said. “Yeah, it could have ended a little better, but our girls played so hard. We played our hearts out. There wasn’t one pair of dry eyes when we were done. I’m really proud of myself, of my team, of the coaches, of the community, of everything. I’m just proud we’re that we’re here. Looking up to those fans, we had so many fans there and that’s just awesome. Everyone had our backs and everyone believed in us and we believed in ourselves, but the ball didn’t roll our way today.”
Shiocton ends their season with a 22-8 record. Pacelli will play Juda Albany in the Division 4 State Championship in a mission for their fourth State Title.