Efflandt, Cary-Grove top Huntley in 9

There was more than just a little pressure on Cary-Grove freshman Lindsay Efflandt Monday.

Efflandt was down 0-2 with two outs against Huntley pitcher Taylor Larson in top of the ninth inning.

But even after her hard shot to left field scored Eleni Polites and Colette Roth to put the Trojans up 5-3, Efflandt still needed to close out the game from the pitchers circle.

She proceeded to retire the side in the bottom of the ninth, allowing Cary-Grove to earn a 5-3 Fox Valley Conference Valley Division softball victory in Huntley.

"I just tried to get contact," Efflandt said of her game-winning single. "That's what I had to do. I had it in my mind that I (could hit)."

Abbe Wienckowski lead off the ninth with a single, and was quickly thrown out at second on Polites' fielder's choice. Roth drew a walk giving the Trojans (7-3, 1-0) runners on first and second until the switch of Polites for Wienckowski proved valuable, as the speedy Polites stole third. After Emma Gaulke flew out to center, Roth stole second giving Efflandt 2 runners in scoring position.

"Abbe came up huge with that (hit)," Trojans' coach Tammy Olson said. "You kind of feel relaxed to get her on, but you have to score. It's wasn't a bad change with Eleni. She's one of our fastest. Stealing that base was huge."

Wienckowski had initially given the Trojans a 3-2 lead when she led off the top of the seventh inning with a single and was later driven home by Efflandt, who batted all 5 runs in for Cary-Grove.

The Red Raiders (6-4, 0-1) struck right back when catcher Jenna Mychko drove a long shot back into right field to score leadoff runner Arrianna Albanese, tying the game at 3-3.

With Mychko ahead in the count 3-0, Olson debated walking the Illinois-bound Mychko, who is Huntley's leading hitter, but decided to allow Efflandt (6-1) the chance to pitch to her.

The same decision fell on Huntley coach Mark Petryniec when he allowed Larson (3-3) to pitch to Efflandt.

"I know who was up and we went at her," Petryniec said. "Taylor has done well all season. For us to get 10 hits and score 3 runs was a little discouraging."

After falling behind 2-0 in the first, Huntley played catchup quickly by scoring a run in the bottom of the inning and then tying the game in the third. Kelsey Hagan singled in Amanda Wisniewski, who had reached with a double.

The Red Raiders would leave Hagan stranded and finished the game with 10 runners left on base.

Cary-Grove finished with 9 hits and left 8 runners on base including three different runners on third.