Softball: Meeks' homer lifts Neuqua Valley past Naperville North
In a critical spot late in Tuesday's key DuPage Valley Conference softball battle with Naperville North, Neuqua Valley slugger Abby Meeks stepped to the plate with one thing on her mind: just make contact.
The Wildcats first baseman had struck out in her previous at-bat with two outs and the bases loaded. So when she approached the batter's box in the bottom of the sixth and her team trailing 6-4, she just wanted to put the ball in play. With two runners aboard this time, she did indeed make contact, good enough contact in fact that the ball didn't land until after it had cleared the right-field fence with what proved to be a 3-run game-winner.
The 7-6 victory improved the Wildcats to 3-0 in the DVC and handed the 2-1 Huskies a heartbreaking loss.
"I was just thinking base hit," Meeks said of her final at-bat Tuesday. "After a strikeout, (the previous time) it's just basehit. I was thinking basehit was all we need. My dad always tells me to think middle and turn on it. It did feel good off the bat, but I didn't really think it was out actually. Thank God it was."
The clutch blast helped Neuqua Valley improve to 11-5 on the spring after a sluggish start. It also helped overcome a sluggish start on Tuesday as the Huskies (10-8) scored six times in the third inning for a 6-2 lead. It was a lead they would not relinquish until Meeks' homer in the bottom of the sixth.
Huskies pitcher Camelia Chelich walked four batters and hit another while allowing 2 runs in the first without giving up a hit. But she rebounded to pitch a solid complete game and looked in line to win before Kelsey O'Connor's 2-run homer in the third made it a 6-4 game and set the stage for Meeks to complete the comeback. Meeks game-winner came right after Sophia Remsik reached base on a hard grounder that hit hard off Chelich's leg.
"I think we did a really good job today with keeping ourselves up with the energy," said O'Connor, who has 4 home runs, "and like playing a full game and not letting one mistake go on top of another. We took the good things and rallied off that."
It didn't hurt that it was Meeks' turn at the plate with the game on the line.
"We let their best hitters get the better of us," said Huskies coach Jerry Kedziora.
"Nothing went right for us today. For us to be in it 7-6 for seven innings, I'll take that. We've still got them two more times for conference … we've still got a chance to be competitive in the conference."
Twice the Huskies lined into double plays in the game to hurt chances to add on runs. "They made the plays that they had to make, that's why they were co-champions last year and that's why they were picked near the top this year," Kedziora added. "We were in position to win the game. We had a lot of chances to score and they came up and made the plays defensively. They've got hitters who can come through in big situations and take advantage."
Wildcats relief pitcher Allie Grossman entered the game in the Huskies' big third inning and was promptly greeted by a 2-run double off the bat of Allison Arnold. But after that she blanked the visitors the rest of the way and came away with the win.