Softball: Ulrich, Lakes time it right against Grayslake North
By the time a late-arriving Kelsey Ulrich made it to Lakes' softball field, the Eagles' game against Grayslake North was already underway.
Funny, because in the end Friday, the speedy sophomore arrived just in time.
Molly Dietz shot an opposite-field single into left field, and Ulrich beat Katie Moats' throw to home plate to score the winning run in the bottom of the seventh, capping a dramatic last-inning comeback for Lakes, which pulled out a 4-3 win.
It was an important victory for Lakes (14-8), which improved to 8-2 in the Northern Lake County Conference, a half-game back of first-place co-leaders Antioch (9-2) and Grayslake Central (9-2).
Lakes, which beat 17-game winner Grant the day before, pounded Grayslake North 16-2 exactly one week earlier.
"We didn't play like we should have played," Eagles coach Bill Hamill said. "We come out and hit the ball hard against Grant (Thursday), and then today we come out and we're looking for excuses."
It was a painful win for Ulrich, who got accidentally spiked by Grayslake North catcher Shaina Lesniewicz while scoring the game-winner. The knuckle on Ulrich's left pinkie was bloodied.
"It's hard to feel my two fingers (pinkie and ring finger)," Ulrich said. "(The athletic trainer) said she could see some tendons. But it's OK. I'm just glad that I could score the winning run."
Ulrich usually bats cleanup and plays second base. She had a legitimate excuse for missing the start of the game, as she was attending her uncle's funeral.
"I just tried my best to get here," Ulrich said. "Even if I wasn't going to play, I was still going to be here to support my team. I'm just glad I could go out and help any way that I could."
It was a painful loss for Grayslake North (10-14, 4-6), which committed 3 errors in the seventh. Heading into the inning, Lakes had managed just 2 hits - both in the second inning - off Knights starter Jenna Pozezinski, who said both her curveball and changeup were working well.
"She pitched a great game," Knights coach Lea Corcoran said. "She pitched good enough to win. We just didn't quite finish out the game strong enough. We didn't play mentally tough enough."
Pozezinski, a senior right-hander who'll play at Concordia University in Wisconsin, struck out five, including four on called-third strikes.
"(The home-plate umpire) was calling my outside pitches (for strikes), and they were not swinging at them," Pozezinski said. "So I was like, 'I'm going to throw there all day if you're not going to swing at them.' "
Camryn Jones (1-for-2, double) and Georgia Ohren (1-for-3) reached on errors to start the Lakes seventh. After pinch hitter Melanie Grupka bunted the runners up, Ulrich reached on an error, scoring Jones to pull the Eagles within 3-2. An RBI groundout by Purdue-commit Rachel Becker tied the score at 2-2.
The lefty-hitting Dietz then singled sharply the opposite way, and Hamill never hesitated in sending Ulrich as she rounded third.
Lakes had scored its first run on an RBI groundout by freshman Amanda Stargardt.
Grayslake North took the lead in the third on Pozezinski's run-scoring single and Kylie Conrad's RBI hit that didn't leave the infield. Grace Brown's sixth-inning solo homer, her second in two days and sixth of the season, was hit just to the left of the 230-feet sign in left-center.
Faith Standerski, Brown, Becca Sosa and Conrad each had 2 hits for Grayslake North.
"We played six good innings of softball," Corcoran said. "But six innings of good softball is one inning short of good enough."