Naperville North bites back in seventh, dumps St. Charles North
Naperville North dealt St. Charles North its first loss of the season the hard way.
The Huskies squandered a 4-run lead in the top of the seventh inning, then beat their nonconference guests in the bottom half, 7-6 on Friday.
Naperville North catcher Jon Ryan's hard grounder up the middle scored Andrew Arenson from second base with one out. Mariano Long's sacrifice bunt put Arenson in scoring position.
It was another dramatic turnaround after St. Charles North (6-1) had tied the ballgame 6-6.
"Some people in the dugout were a little tense during that part of the game," said Ryan, 2-for-4 on the day. "For the most part we stayed calm and we were able to move through that, so we can use that later on in the season."
The first five innings were innocent enough. Naperville North (6-1) led 4-2 on Ryan's run-scoring double, a wild pitch that scored Alex Khoury and, in the fifth, Arenson's home run down the left-field line with Khoury aboard.
"(The pitch) was right about belt high on the inner half of the plate," said Arenson, the first baseman who followed an 0-for-4 Monday with a 3-for-4 Friday with 3 runs scored. "It's just basically my sweet spot, so I just yanked it out."
St. Charles North lapsed defensively in the bottom of the sixth when it allowed the Huskies 2 runs with two outs on a dropped third strike and an infield hit. The North Stars reacted with a vengeance.
"I credit our kids, there's no give-up in them and we battled to the last out," said coach Todd Genke, who answered Naperville North coach Carl Hunckler's message-board request for takers after initial Friday foe Downers Grove South needed to make up a conference game.
"It's just unfortunate that we gave the runs away in the bottom of the sixth. We don't do that, it's a different game," Genke said.
Jake Bergren, who had 3 hits, scored on Ryan Richardson's double to start St. Charles North's rally. The North Stars added Mike Budka's second hit of the day, John Brodner's RBI grounder and Chase Williams' 2-run double to deep left.
"We were down 6-2 and we showed in the last inning there that we could actually come back," Williams said. "We should have been hitting like that the entire game."
That seventh inning was enough for Hunckler.
"To say the least I was very proud of the way that we handled it," he said. "We could have folded tent and said that's it, but we came right back and won the game."