Bad bounce bites Libertyville

A bad hop meant some very bad news on Wednesday for the Libertyville American Legion baseball team.

In a second round, 2nd Division tournament game against St. Charles in Freeport, the Bandits first lost a comfortable, late lead, then the game 9-8 on a strange play in the ninth inning.

The one bit of good news is that Libertyville, having won its opener on Tuesday, is still alive in the double elimination tournament. The Bandits (15-8-1) face host Freeport at 5 p.m. today.

"We were winning the whole game -- every inning," said Libertyville coach Jim Schurr, whose team won the 10th District tournament last weekend to advance to Freeport. "They'd get close and we'd push them away. Then, all of a sudden, the game is over and they won. It's just a blur right now."

The Bandits boasted an 8-6 advantage in the eighth inning and were one out away from putting St. Charles back in the field for the final inning.

But a Libertyville fielding error allowed a St. Charles batter to reach, and the next batter hit a 2-run homer to tie the game.

After Libertyville was held scoreless in the top of the ninth, the wackiness began.

In the bottom of the ninth, St. Charles' sixth hitter, who had gone 0-for-5 and struck out three times in his previous at-bats, blasted a double with two outs.

The next batter hit what looked to be a routine base hit to right field, and the runner at second was instructed to hit the brakes at third.

But just as Libertyville right fielder Tim Matheson was about to scoop up the ball, it took a strange bounce and wound up shooting well out of his reach.

The St. Charles baserunner who had planned to stop at third scored the winning run.

"We had nothing go our way tonight -- no good bounces," Schurr said. "But I told the kids that they can't go around feeling sorry for themselves. We should have never been in that situation to begin with -- where a bad hop can determine the game. We should have played good enough so that those things wouldn't matter."