Metea Comes Back Against Waubonsie

AURORA — Metea Valley softball coach Kris Kalivas found herself looking across the diamond at quite a familiar foe Tuesday.

Kalivas left to start the new program at Metea two years ago. Tuesday, Kalivas and the Mustangs welcomed Waubonsie, coached by a former player of Kalivas’, Aly Kelley.

The mentor wound up getting the better of the pupil on this day.

Metea rallied from an early three-run deficit to post a 10-4 Upstate Eight Valley win in frigid, windy conditions.

“It makes you feel kind of old when you coach against somebody that you’ve coached,” Kalivas admitted. “Aly is a great colleague at this point. It’s been fun to watch her from a player to a coach. It makes it more friendly. There is a competitive edge, and obviously both us want to win, but there’s no hard feelings once you walk off the field.”

Metea (7-6 overall, 5-4 UEC Valley) jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first when freshman leadoff hitter Alise Perna doubled and scored. But Waubonsie (7-14, 4-7) channeled some of the momentum it gained with a big win over St. Charles East Monday with a four-run second to take a 4-1 lead.

Julia DiMonte’s RBI single tied the game and Amanda Lack followed with a two-run double. She scored on Amanda Minahan’s triple.

“We came into this game today thinking that we were going to win,” Kelley said. “A lot of the times, I think their mentality has been playing not to lose. Today, we came in playing to win, and you saw that early. They scored a run, and we came back with four. But our bats went dead.”

Metea reliever Stephanie Bova (2-0) settled in nicely, holding the Warriors scoreless the rest of the day.

With Waubonsie stalling offensively, Metea continued to show a penchant for scoring runs in bunches to get back into the game and ultimately take the lead. The Mustangs led off the fifth with four consecutive hits, and all of them eventually scored.

Emily Baker and Antoinette Senese singled and Perna and Alyssa Coletto doubled, all of them scoring, giving the Mustangs a 5-4 lead that they would not relinquish. For good measure, they scored five more runs in the sixth to put the game away. Sara Knox’s two-run single capped that rally.

“We have been hitting pretty well lately,” Perna said. “I think we just keep our heads in there and don’t give up. We’ve done pretty well.”
Perna has batted leadoff all season for the fledgling program, and she had a huge game Tuesday, doubling twice and scoring three runs.

“She did a really nice job today,” Kalivas said. “Perna has some really nice speed and she has a well-balanced game. She can slap, she can bunt, she can hit. I don’t think that other teams expect her to drive the ball as well as she does. She’s just done a great job getting us started at the top of the lineup.”