Softball: Rain waits long enough for Downers North to defeat York
Downers Grove North was looking forward to both games, Wednesday's home contest against West Suburban Silver rival York and the annual showdown against Downers Grove South on Thursday.
But would the weather cooperate? Wednesday's game against the Dukes had to take place as scheduled. If not, the game would be rescheduled for Thursday and the cross-town battle would be canceled.
The Trojans (19-4, 9-1) beat York 7-5 before heavy rains and lightning arrived just before the top of the seventh inning. After a 30-minute delay, the game was called as an official contest.
"York is a great conference rivalry and we are always pumped every year to play South," said Downers North's Olivia Wojciak, whose 2-run homer in the fifth helped keep the Dukes (13-10, 4-6) at bay. "We all have friends on South."
The game was moved from Downers North's varsity field to a turf practice field on campus that is also used for football and soccer, and the rains looked like they might stop the contest before it got started. But the moisture held off until the seventh, and the Trojans got to work immediately, scoring 5 runs in the first two innings.
MacKenzie Bernhard's one-out double to left scored 2 runs in the 3-run first. In the second Jade Mejia Wick reached on an infield hit bunt and scored on Renee Bielawa's single to center. Bielawa later scored on a throwing error.
York got on the scoreboard in the third with 2 runs. Sydney Fugslang walked and moved to third on Katherine Karnatz's basehit. Fugslang came home on a wild pitch, and Karnatz scored on Kyra Kroll's single to right.
The Dukes made it 5-3 the next inning thanks to Izzy Smith's double to left. She scored on a fielding error.
"York is one of those teams that you can't look at their won-loss record. They are always strong. They always come to play and are well-coached," said Downers North coach Eric Landschoot. "They're better than when we played them a few weeks ago."
Wojciak's homer came in the fifth. With two out Rae Meents' well-placed groundball turned into an infield hit, and then Wojciak came to the plate.
"The first pitch was a strike, a nice pitch. Then there were two balls thrown. Then came the next one and I took it over center," she said.
York responded in its half of the sixth with 2 more runs thanks to Jane Moran's two-out double.
The winning pitcher was Savannah Rodriguez. She pitched six innings and struck out 11.
"Savannah pitched real well. She jumped ahead of the hitters and is confident that she'll throw her pitches for strikes," Landschoot said.
Thursday's Downers Grove cross-town game begins at 7 p.m. at McCollum Park.