Lake Park's Bates wins pitchers' duel vs. Neuqua Valley

Angie Bates and Jena Boudreau are both enjoying breakout seasons on the mound this spring.

Bates was just a bit better Wednesday.

The Lake Park senior survived a bases-loaded, two-out jam in the bottom of the seventh to outduel Boudreau and No. 14 Neuqua Valley 2-0 in Naperville.

"Her stuff is good enough to get anybody out," Lake Park coach Tom Mazzie said of Bates. "When she gains that confidence, when she walks with a little swagger, she's gonna shine for us. She's got all the pitches."

Bates (9-2), who won her fifth straight decision, last lost on April 9 at Bartlett. In that game No. 7 Lake Park (13-3, 5-2 Upstate Eight Conference) led 5-0 with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, only to see Bartlett rally with 5 unearned runs.

Lake Park's defense Wednesday was error-free and Bates at her best under pressure.

Corinne Sheley and Rebecca Lincoln singled to start the Neuqua seventh, moving up on an Amanda Mener sacrifice. Bates came back to strike out the next batter, and after hitting Jenna Marsalli with a pitch induced cleanup hitter Colleen Hohman to pop out to end the game.

"I knew my teammates had my back," Bates said. "We've had our struggles in the seventh inning, but we told each other we were going to finish the game today."

Bates took a no-hitter into the fourth and scattered 6 hits, 2 walks and 2 hit batters while striking out five.

"I just kept working in and out," Bates said, "because I know they are a really good hitting team. Their No. 3 and 4 hitters (Marsalli and Hohman) are amazing."

Neuqua (10-6, 6-3), which popped up 7 times, left 10 runners on base - 7 in scoring position.

"We had the opportunities," Neuqua coach Elaina Tanaka said, "we just didn't come up with the hits that we needed to drive them in. It's frustrating and I know the girls are frustrated too."

Both teams came in scoring more than 7 runs per game. Boudreau (5-2) was equally stingy, holding Lake Park to 3 hits and 3 walks. She retired 11 batters in a row after Vanessa Wegner's two-out single in the third. Boudreau's loss was her first as a starter this spring.

"She was mixing things up really well, keeping them off-balance," Tanaka said. "That's what she's been doing this whole season."

With the wind howling in, Lake Park used its little ball to get on the board. Kelly Mieszala walked to lead off the third inning and stole second. Carly Willert bunted back to the mound, but a high throw to first allowed Mieszala to score and Willert to take second. Wegner followed with a line-drive single up the middle to score Willert and make it 2-0.

"I felt like with the way we were popping the ball up we were better off putting some pressure on them with some small ball," Mazzie said. "When we get raking, that's fine. Game like today, you gotta go back to old school."