Even the Road Runner would struggle to keep up with Oswego’s Kaylee LaChappell on the bases. ‘She’s so quick.’
Beep, beep.
It worked wonders in the cartoons as the Road Runner got away from Wile E. Coyote. It also sounds like that when Oswego’s Kaylee LaChappell spins her wheels and fulfills a need for speed.
That’s especially true now that the senior outfielder is healthy following surgery last August to repair a torn labrum in her hip, a condition she had played with for about eight months.
“She just sets the table so many times by getting on base,” coach Paul Netzel said of LaChappell, who bats leadoff and is hitting .395 with a .463 on-base percentage and 17 steals.
“She’s so quick that if they bobble the ball or maybe don’t charge it as fast as they can, Kaylee is going to beat it out and be safe at first base. Then everything starts to happen for us.”
LaChappell got it going Thursday for the Panthers, reaching base five straight times before being retired on a liner to short in a wet-and-wild 21-11 Southwest Prairie Conference win at Yorkville.
Fast as she is, however, even LaChappell couldn’t dodge the raindrops and stay dry in the game that was able to be played only because the Foxes have a new field turf facility.
Whether it should have been played is open to debate. With time running out on the regular season, both teams wanted to avoid another postponement.
“Even though it was raining, I feel like our team played the best game we’ve ever played,” LaChappell said. “Our pitcher stayed on it despite the rain. That was crazy.
“It was really tough to grip the ball. That’s why I’m saying our pitchers and their pitchers, too, did amazing.”
Each team drew 11 walks.
Sophomore right-hander Jaelynn Anthony threw the first four innings of the five-inning game and struck out 10 for Oswego (20-8, 12-2), which trails leader Minooka by half a game with two left.
Northern Illinois recruit Aubriella Garza pitched the final inning. The junior right-hander also had four hits, including two doubles, to lead an 18-hit attack for the Panthers.
Senior Sarah Carlson and junior Peyton Levine shared pitching duties for the Foxes (14-12, 7-5).
Anthony and Kiyah Chavez, an Iowa commit, drove in three runs apiece and Rikka Ludvigson added a single, double and triple for Oswego. Jensen Krantz had three hits for Yorkville.
LaChappell, a Missouri S&T recruit, thought the game would be called, especially after the varsity baseball game on the adjacent field between Oswego East and Yorkville was stopped after one inning. The new baseball field has a field turf infield but grass covering the outfield.
Last season, LaChappell hit .356. The three-year varsity regular is at .342 for her career with 40 steals. She carries a 4.2 GPA and plans to major in architectural engineering in college.
“I’ve been hands on as a kid and building stuff with my dad (Mark),” she said. “He’s the one who got me into it. He works in code enforcement in Oak Brook but has always been a ‘build it’ guy.
“We built a bags game and mini ping-pong tables before. When I was younger and catching in travel, he even spray-painted my gear and fixed it all up for me so it would look all cool for me.”
LaChappell looks pretty chill sliding between left and right field for the Panthers. Anthony’s speed as a pitcher has a lot of hitters swinging late, sending more balls to the right side of the field.
“We’ll put her where we think most of the action is because she’s so quick and has a good arm,” Netzel said. “She’s key as far as her speed and just getting people psyched up and ready to go.”
Yorkville coach Jory Regnier, meanwhile, looked up at the scoreboard and shook her head.
“Thirty two runs scored?” she said. “That just tells you all you need to know. There’s no way these two teams playing in normal conditions would ever have that, but it is what it is with next week’s schedule already pretty full.”
