Girls Golf: Carly Bettinardi, Mother McAuley reign in regional
By Logan Malloy For Sun-Times Media October 3, 2012 10:04PM
Carly Bettinardi, of Mother McAuley. | Gary Middendorf~For Sun-Times Media
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Updated: November 5, 2012 11:32AM
The scores were trickling in Wednesday at the Class AA Homewood-Flossmoor Regional as Mother McAuley’s Carly Bettinardi and Marian Catholic’s Bree Veazey watched and waited.
Each carded a 5-over-par 76 at Coyote Run, and the scores held up as the final entries were posted, forcing a playoff to decide the individual champ.
Back on the course, Veazey blasted a clean drive down the fairway on No. 1 while Bettinardi put her ball behind a tree. Bettinardi used an impressive recovery shot to set up an eight-foot par putt to stay even with Veazey.
That putt turned out be a seminal shot, as Bettinardi bettered Veazey by two strokes on the par-4 second hole for medalist honors.
“I was really nervous,” Bettinardi said. “I knew I had to focus on every shot, even if I hit (my first) drive behind the tree.
“I felt like if I had a bad shot I could recover quickly. I was really confident with the putting.”
McAuley took home its second consecutive regional team title with a 349. Oak Forest (387) finished second behind Jackie Pytko’s 86, while Marian Catholic (388) was third despite competing with just four golfers.
Katlyn Broderick (88), Abby Coyle (91) and Makalia Brown (94) all chipped in for McAuley.
“The girls gave everything they got and rose to the occasion,” McAuley coach Michelle Stepanek said.
For Pytko and the Bengals, the runner-up finish was special, with the looming exit of coach Lorrie Campea.
“I’m so excited,” Pytko said. “I hope we made our coach proud because she’s going to retire at the end of the year. I think we did.”
Pytko’s 86, good for fifth place, was a career best included a personal best three birdies. Kelly McEathron had a 90 for Oak Forest.
“It’s wonderful,” Campea said of her team advancing to sectionals. “I told the girls, ‘You have the ability, it’s in your hands.’ They really came through.”
Veazey noted the front nine at Coyote Run has been troublesome all season for her. Wednesday, she shot a 40 on the front and a 36 on the back.
“The front (nine) is challenging for me,” she said. “It’s a lot of hitting your spots, and it takes the driver out of my hand. The back is longer and plays a lot more to my strengths.”
Marian’s Nina Nicpon (76) was third and T.F. South’s Maggie Sloan (84) was fourth.
Sloan, a freshman and the lone representative from T.F. South, spent the majority of the season competing with the boys team. The regional was just her second girls match of the year after finishing as the runner-up on the girls side of South Suburban Blue Tournament
Individual qualifiers from non-qualifying teams include Marist’s Ashley Kay (89), Samantha Smith (99), Anna Schieber (114) and Kelly Barker (115); and H-F’s Kendall Paris (90), Kaleigh Wilkins (99), Alex Walker (106), Myranda Scott (112) and Divinity Stephens (114).
