Addante, Jacobs come back to top Crystal Lake South

Things did not start out well for Jacobs and sophomore Alexis Addante on Wednesday.

But as the old saying goes, it's not how you start, it's how you finish.

Addante and the Golden Eagles overcame a 3-0 first-inning deficit to come back and down Crystal Lake South 5-4 in the Fox Valley Conference Valley Division softball opener for both teams in Crystal Lake.

The win was the fourth straight for Jacobs (7-7, 1-0) and its sixth in the last seven games.

"We've been playing tough teams and ultimately that's made us better," said first-year Jacobs coach Katie O'Brien.

O'Brien has also had to do some adjusting in her coaching. For the past several years her focus as an assistant to Jeremy Bauer was solely on the pitchers and catchers. Now, as the head coach, she's had to broaden her scope.

"Being the head coach has changed my focus a bit," she said. "I've worked more with the catchers on calling their own game."

The Gators (9-3, 0-1) jumped ahead 3-0 courtesy of a 2-run home run from senior Jenica Terry and an RBI single by freshman Carly Chovanec.

"I love Jenica Terry," said O'Brien. "I coached her in travel but against us at Jacobs she'd usually strike out or walk. We knew if we threw it up she's going to hit it out of the park and we just missed our spot."

But after that, Addante was spot on. She shut down the Gators in five of the final six innings.

"I just tried to stay calm and get into my zone," Addante said. "I knew they were good hitters so I just tried to keep them off balance."

"I wasn't too worried," said O'Brien of the early deficit. "I know (Addante) can settle in. She has this game face and once she settles in there's not much you can do against her. She's learning what to do with hitters and what to do in situations. Her and (freshman catcher) Jess (Mrzlak) are both learning."

The Golden Eagles took a 4-3 lead in the third inning when they got to South senior Hailee Massie for 4 runs. Senior Taylor Belo led off with a single, stole second and scored on junior Sarah Murray's single. A deep triple from junior Emily Borg scored Murray to make it 4-2 and when freshman Kerri Healy walked she took off for second, catching South's defense off guard and allowing Borg to scoot home and make it a 4-3 game. Healy was thrown out trying to get to second but Addante and junior Katie Borchert walked to keep the inning going. After a strikeout, Hailey Lonigro delivered a single to score courtesy runner Emily Jorgenson with the tying run.

Jacobs then made it a 5-3 game in the top of the fifth when Addante jacked a one-out home run to left field, her first varsity round-tripper that ended up being the game-winning run.

"I've been in a slump lately," she said. "I tried to make contact and it just went."

CL South closed to within 5-4 in the bottom of the sixth. With one out, Massie singled and went to second on a wild pitch, third on Lauren Gauger's fly out to right and then scored on Taylor Kassel's single to left.

But Addante set the Gators down in order in the seventh to preserve the win for the Golden Eagles.

"We squandered our opportunities today," said South coach Scott Busam, whose team left eight runners on base. "I have faith in my batting order one through nine and I feel when we have runners in scoring position we're going to score, we just didn't do it today.

"The (Addante) home run was a great clutch hit. Give her credit. It's frustrating but unlike the last couple of years we can bounce back. This team practices hard and wants to win. It's the first conference game. We're not going to panic."

Addante allowed 9 hits and had 2 strikeouts, 3 walks and a hit batter and benefitted from a defense that played an errorless game. Massie allowed 8 hits with 9 strikeouts, 4 walks and a hit batter.

Gauger was 3-for-4 for the Gators and Chovanec had 2 hits.