Glenbard South bats bust loose in rout
For the second time in as many days the Glenbard North softball field was the scene of much offense. The first day was to the benefit of the Panthers.
On Wednesday most of the offense came from Glenbard South as the Raiders rolled 20-6.
Glenbard South (5-0) racked up 22 hits on the afternoon.
Every hitter in the Raiders' lineup got at least one hit. Center fielder Payton Carli led the way with 5. Freshman Mady Carli, winning pitcher Ashley Cohen, Taylor Carli and Mina Marra each had 3. Marra finished with 4 RBI.
"It feels nice when the whole team is hitting the ball and moving people over when they need to," Payton Carli said. 'We're getting together as a team and reacting to how each one plays."
An RBI single by Taylor Carli and a fielding error helped the Raiders lead 2-0 after the first inning. Glenbard South opened up the game with 11 runs scored over the third through fifth innings to take a 13-1 advantage. The big hits were Cohen's 2-run homer in the fourth and consecutive run-scoring singles by Taylor Carli, freshman Bailee Flanagan and Marra in the fifth.
The Raiders were well-ahead 13-1 going into the bottom of the fifth and were just three outs away from ending the game early. But like Tuesday in the 8-7 victory over Benet, Glenbard North got its bats going late and scored 3 runs on 2 hits to fend off the 10-run rule. A groundball out by Kayla Quanstrum and RBI singles by Sarah Petzold and Trinity Medina were the big hits of the inning.
The Panthers (2-4) scored two more runs in the sixth thanks to a fielding error and a run-scoring double by Jocelyn Marmologo. Glenbard South responded with 7 runs on 6 hits in its half of the seventh to break the game open for good.
"Again, we are playing from behind and it hurt us. You can't always bounce back especially on days like this," said Glenbard North coach Josh Sanew. "We need to do a better job of getting out and ahead early."
The Raiders' big seventh inning was fueled by Marra's 2-run single and Tricia Weigand's 2-run triple.
"I was happy with the hitting. But we had issues on the bases and were getting a little complacent on defense. You can't give them chances like that. They made it a ballgame," said Glenbard South coach Julie Fonda.
Cohen, the winning pitcher, threw the first three innings, not allowing a hit and was relieved in the fourth by Taylor Carli. Cohen came back in the fifth to finish up and racked up 4 strikeouts. Wednesday's contest was the Raiders' third of five games scheduled this week.
"It's a long week and I don't want to burn out any arms," Fonda said.