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Addison Trail comes back vs. Fenton

Under the lights on its home field, the Addison Trail softball team found some late-inning magic on Friday night.

Scoring single runs in the fourth through sixth innings, the Blazers came from behind to beat Fenton 6-5 in Addison.

Sophia Hawkins provided the game-winner, knocking in Gianna Sarli with a basehit to right with one out in the bottom of the sixth.

"We kind of put ourselves in a bit of a bad position," Addison Trail coach Mark Olson said. "But it is a testament to the girls and how they trust the system and each other that they were able to bounce back.

"We saw that on Tuesday against Rolling Meadows, where we battled back from down 5-1 to take the lead. They have a willingness to battle and not give in."

Leading 3-2 after two innings thanks to RBI hits by Marie Baumgartner and Sarli, the Blazers watched as the Bison answered with 3 runs of their own in the top of the third. Dorothy Novello drove in the tying run on a groundout before Payton Pugliese crossed home on a double steal.

Gianna Fugarino scored for Addison Trail on a wild pitch in the fourth and Alyssa Pham tied the score at 5 on an RBI triple in the fifth.

Fenton (0-7) was playing its second game of the day, having dropped an 11-7 decision to Elmwood Park in the afternoon.

"We were on the verge of getting 10-runned; it was 8-0 and we hadn't had a hit," Fenton coach Dave Mello said of the Elmwood Park game. "But then we got a hit and scored 5 runs and showed some life and I think that carried over. This was two very equal teams in a great setting. Playing a night game brings out more fans and we had a lot of energy in the dugout.

"It's only April 7 and there is a long way to go. Losing is not fun, but we are on the right track."

Jenna Geraci, who also doubled, pitched all six innings for the visitors. Alexandra Pohlad likewise threw a complete game for the Blazers (2-5), allowing just two hits over the final four innings. She was helped by a few nice defensive plays by Baumgartner at short.

"She is only a sophomore," Olson said. "Last year was a little bit of baptism by fire, but the big positive (tonight), not one walk. Marie provides great senior leadership for us because we are still pretty young and inexperienced. The seniors out there outside of Marie really haven't played a ton."

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