Softball: Grayslake Central's Radke nearly no-hits Hampshire
Reagen Radke smiled, sighed and then explained what it's like to finish 1 strike away from a no-hitter.
"It happens," Radke said. "It is what it is."
Radke, a junior at Grayslake Central, dominated Hampshire for 6 2/3 innings in a Fox Valley Conference Fox Division matchup Thursday, striking out 15 and not allowing a ball hit out of the infield.
With 2 outs in the bottom of the seventh, Morgan Haefling stepped in the box for the Whip-Purs, and Radke quickly got 2 strikes on her.
Haefling battled, and the lefty was able to drive a clean single through the hole between short and third for Hampshire's first hit.
The Whip-Purs went on to score 3 runs from there before Radke completed her gem by inducing a pop-up for the final out in a 5-3 victory.
"My drop curve was really effective," Radke said. "It wasn't working early in the season but it has really come together."
Everything has been coming together for Radke this spring, now 10-4. She struck out the side in the first two innings, and the Whip-Purs didn't put a ball in play until the fifth inning when they bunted for an out.
"She's done a great job and she truly worked in the off-season to make herself a better ballplayer," Rams coach Jason Schaal said. "She's done a great job and is helping take the program to the next level."
Hampshire (9-8, 2-2) stayed in a 0-0 game through 3 innings behind starting pitcher Joslyn Nelson. The Rams (11-5, 4-1) got to her in the fourth, a rally started with singles from Morgan Smigielski and Radke. Trinity Buck fouled off 6 pitches before drawing a walk to load the bases.
Maddie Marshall's single drove in the first run, Breanna Albert doubled down the right-field line to score 2, and Brooke Heraty's sacrifice fly made it 4-0.
Lexi Waigand led off the fifth with a single and scored when the Whip-Purs couldn't come up with Radke's smash up the middle with 2 outs.
The game stayed 5-0 until 2 outs in the bottom of the 7th. After Haefling broke up the no-hitter, the Rams made back-to-back errors and then Nelson laced a 2-run double to the left field fence.
All of a sudden it was a 5-3 game with the tying run at the plate before Radke got leadoff hitter Jasmine Lopez to pop out to second baseman Teagan Truskowski.
"I really rely on my defense," Radke said. "I had every faith they would make the play. I wasn't worried about what the outcome was going to be."
"You get 2 strikes, 2 outs bottom of the seventh inning and give up that little single, that's tough," Schaal said. "She did a good job keeping them off balance, moving it in, moving it out."
Nelson allowed 5 hits and 4 earned runs in her 6 innings.
"We've been seeing pitchers that are close to her (Radke), some are better, some are not as good," Hampshire coach Kelly Wasilewski said. "I feel like physically we were prepared. We took a little while to get going.
"We were not our same team the last two days. We asked them to come out with a different attitude and they did, they picked it up. Even though we had a loss we are much happier with the performance and approach to the game."