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Sports

Evergreen Park's Putlak Delivers the Goods

Mustang softball pitcher Michelle Putlak took advantage of an opportunity to achieve a goal in a 10-0 five-inning victory over Rich East on Tuesday.

Evergreen Park junior starting pitcher Michelle Putlak had a goal this year to get a no-hitter. Conference play came and went, and she still didn’t have it. She began to worry she wasn’t going to get one.

In Tuesday’s 10-0 five-inning win over Rich East, however, Putlak was able to reach her goal. Behind her dominant pitching, third-seeded Evergreen Park defeated 14th-seeded Rich East in a semifinal game at the Class 3A Evergreen Park Regional.

“Today, my goal was to get as many strikeouts as I could,” said Putlak, who had nine. “I also wanted to back up my team. I didn’t want to go out there and say, ‘Oh, this is just Rich East.’ I wanted to go out there with the mindset that this could be anyone.”

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The Mustangs are clicking on all cylinders, having won six in a row.

“The kids believe in themselves, that’s the main thing,” Evergreen Park coach John O’Connor said. “I think they realize they can play with anybody right now.”

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The Mustangs are playing so well, they are talking about a run to state.

“I’m really, really excited to go downstate,” Putlak said. “Our team is so good and I’m so confident that we can definitely get downstate.”

While confidence is necessary to make a deep playoff run, the Mustangs are aware that it is a single-elimination tournament, and any hiccup along the way will result in the end of the season. It might be tempting for Evergreen Park to look ahead to a date with top-seeded Oak Forest, who defeated the Mustangs 4-1 earlier this year. But the Mustangs know they have to face many good opponents along the way.

“I just take it one game at a time, and I tell my teammates to live in the moment,” Putlak said.

In the meantime, Evergreen Park can take solace in the fact that Saturday’s regional championship game is on its home field.

“My team plays its best ball right here,” O’Connor said. “Let’s just hope that we come out ready to play on Saturday.”

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