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Serena Goodwill came of age in the biggest game of her short high school softball career Wednesday.
And because she did, No. 9 sectional tournament seed Evanston spilled No. 8 Lincoln Park 7-2 in the Class 4A regional opener at Oz Park in Chicago and advanced to the regional championship game on Thursday. The Wildkits will face top-seeded Whitney Young in that matchup.
Goodwill struck out 15, just 2 shy of the ETHS single game record and a likely record for a postseason game, considering the program s lack of success in the Illinois High School Association state tournament series until recently. She fanned every Lion in the starting lineup at least once and scattered 6 hits. Goodwill walked 3 and both runs scored by the hosts were unearned.
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Give Amy Gonzales the top pick in a fantasy softball draft and the Evanston coach wouldn t have a problem choosing Molly Chambers.
But the once-in-a-lifetime pitcher for the program didn t get to play her senior year and now the Wildkits have to move on without her.
The coronavirus pandemic wiped out the spring season for every high school sport in 2020, robbing Chambers - now pitching at Princeton University - of a chance to perform in the circle about 20 more times for ETHS where she already owned the school career records for victories, strikeouts and earned run average.
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Chambers emergence was especially critical as the Wildkits captured rare conference and regional championships during her career. For years, the Kits lacked a stopper in the circle as feeder programs struggled to produce talent at that critical position in the fast-pitch game.