Thontlin stars for St. Francis

Joliet-St. Francis' Julie Thontlin knows what a good pitch is.

In the first game of Saturday's doubleheader at Mundelein, shepitched a two-hitter and contributed the game-winning RBI in a 2-0victory.

In the second game, Thontlin was the designated hitter and hada two-out triple in the seventh, then scored on a throwing error fora 5-4 victory.

"I've been hitting the ball hard but they were all grounders,"Thontlin said. "I just said to myself: `We've got two out, it's thetop of the seventh and we've got to get something going. I'm goingto get a hit.'

"It was a fastball and I knew I hit it good. When I got tothird, I knew she (catcher Kim Burns) was going to drop it becausethe throw was way off. When I saw the ball coming in, I ran."

In the opener, Thontlin struck out five, walked one and didn'tallow a runner past second base.

"My fastball wasn't working that well so I relied on my curvesand some drops," Thontlin said. "The umpire was calling the low pitches and I was able to move the ball around because of that."

The sweep gave second-ranked Joliet-St. Francis a 3-0 recordand dropped Mundelein to 2-2. Mundelein star Ashley Struggles was0-for-3 against Thontlin and had an RBI triple and scored a run inthe second game.

In the opener, Joliet-St. Francis scored a run in the fourth asThontlin's grounder scored Maria Mikuska, who had singled and went tothird on Chris Maroni's single. The Angels scored in the seventh onMelanie Hiler's RBI single.

In the second game, junior Jana Meader threw a four-hitter andstruck out six while walking two in her first varsity appearance.

"I was real nervous before the game and during it," Meader said."I warmed up most of the first game so I was able to get my fastballworking. I used some rises and some drops and that worked for me,too."

Mundelein led 2-1 after three but Joliet-St. Francis scoredthree in the fifth inning. Shelly Birsa started the rally, scoringon an error by shortstop Michelle Strachn, one of nine Mundeleincommitted in the second game. Mikuska's RBI single and another errorled to the other runs.

In Mundelein's fifth, Struggles reached on a two-out error andscored on another error. Lynette Kowlake's single scored Strachn totie at 4 and set up Thontlin's game-winning hit.

"She (Thontlin) has a lot of strength and she really grooved theball," Joliet coach Terry Benter said. "`I'm not surprised she hit itthat far."