Niles North rallies past Maine West
The late-inning girls from Skokie did it again.
For the third time in its sizzling 12-2 start, the Niles North softball team won a game in the final inning.
But its latest one on Thursday in Des Plaines outdid the previous dramatic wins over St. Ignatius (5-4) and Hersey (6-5 in nine innings).
This time, the Vikings faced their largest deficit of the three games.
They trailed Maine West 5-0 going into the top of the seventh, then scored 6 runs and frantically held on in the bottom of the inning for another 6-5 victory.
Niles North improved to 2-0 in the Central Suburban North while Maine West (3-7) slipped to 0-2.
After seeing their 5-0 lead vanish, the Warriors almost made the lead reappear.
After one out in the bottom of the seventh, Annemarie Weber doubled sharply to the left field fence.
Kati Roycroft then reached on an error and the Warriors were in business with runners on second and third with one out.
But junior reliever Carolyn Dwyer (5-2) got down to business and retired the next two Warriors on a strikeout and a groundout to second baseman Amanda Aragon to get the win in relief of Juliana Livieri (7-0).
"Carolyn (entered with two outs in the bottom of the fifth) had an amazing game," said Niles North coach Karen Wick, who Mid-Suburban League fans will remember as the former Wheeling coach. "She's tough as nails."
"Our team is so versatile," Dwyer said. "Everyone contributes hitting and fielding. I can trust everyone so it makes it so much easier.
"We've just worked so hard and we compete so hard to win. It really shows when we fall behind. We definitely deal real well with pressure."
The Warriors put the pressure on the Vikings immediately as pitcher Grace Feldkamp (2-for-4) doubled sharply to right center to lead off the bottom of the first.
No. 2 hitter Alyssa Pegoraro put down a sacrifice bunt and an error on the play allowed Feldkamp to race home for the 1-0 lead.
Feldkamp scored the Warriors' second run in the fourth inning when she came home on a two-out line drive single to center by Katie Pociejewski (2-for-4).
Weber followed by ripping an RBI double down the left field line for a 3-0 lead.
The hosts built the advantage to 5-0 in the sixth. One run came in when catcher Nicole Byerly reached on an error to score Allison Pearson who had singled.
Pinch runner Nora McDonald then came home an RBI double off the center field fence by Feldkamp.
Feldkamp took a 2-hitter into the seventh.
But the Vikings capitalized on 2 hits (2-run single by Danielle Strejc and RBI single by Kathryn Edmond), 2 errors, a walk to score their 6 runs.
"We have a really strong hitting team and we knew it was going to start at some time," said Wick, whose team had some nice shots early in game on which Pociejewski alertly tracked down in center field.
She made one running catch in right field territory to rob Vikings' leadoff batter Gina Loy of a hit.
Warriors right fielder Anne Lipinski also grabbed deep fly ball near the fence in the second inning while second baseman Jordan Hart made a nice catch while drifting into shallow right field in the fifth inning.
"It was one of those games that we have to close out and we didn't," said Maine West coach Mike McGovern. "It's a tough loss."