Lux, Noland complete comeback bid

Eight innings of softball between Glenbard West and Wheaton North Friday afternoon came down to the final two swings.

Kathryn Lux and Melissa Noland cracked back-to-back doubles in the bottom of the eighth inning to lift Glenbard West to a come-from-behind 4-3 nonconference victory in Wheaton.

Lux led off the eighth with her double.

"I was just trying to get a basehit," said Lux, who has home run power. "I knew that if I got on base I had good hitters to back me up. I knew that they would somehow find a way to get me home."

That brought up Noland, who initially received the bunt sign from Hilltoppers coach Mary McGrane. After one unsuccessful attempt, McGrane turned Noland loose.

Noland obliged by hitting a high drive over Wheaton North right fielder Anna Gordon. The double allowed Lux to easily beat the relay home.

"It was really fun," a smiling Noland said about delivering the game-winner. "(McGrane) called a bunt and I couldn't get it down, but that just brought the infield in. Our coach planned that apparently. Then she gave me the hit-away sign. I just wanted to make contact to get Kathryn around."

Noland wasn't sure exactly what kind of pitch she hit, but she knew she liked it.

"It was fastball-ish up in the zone," she said. "That's one of my favorite pitches."

That made a winner out of sophomore Cassie Goggin in her first start of the season. Freshman Kahla Nolan took the loss to fall to 3-2.

Wheaton North (4-2) jumped ahead 2-0 in the second on Paige Wilson's RBI double and Adrianne Sieben's sacrifice fly.

Glenbard West's Ashley Steinhilber cut the lead in half with a solo homer in the fourth.

Wheaton North moved in front 3-1 with a run in the sixth, but Glenbard West (2-1) tied the game in the bottom of the inning. Jayme Hefler led off with a single and later scored on a throwing error before Ericka Lew delivered an RBI double.

Falcons coach Karen Calabrese lamented the 14 runners her team left on base.

"We left two runners on base in pretty much every inning," she said. "You can't do that against a team like that."

After losing to Lockport in eight innings Thursday, McGrane was heartened to see her club fight back in this one.

"It was a good win," McGrane said. "We didn't give up which shows a lot of character from our team."