Streamwood defeats Oswego East in opener
The outcome of Saturday’s season opener rested in Streamwood shortstop Nate Pearson’s mitt for a second. Then it didn’t. Then it did again.
The host Sabres led Oswego East 2-1 in the sixth inning of a game they eventually won 4-1, but the Wolves had loaded the bases with one out against Villanova-bound left-hander Josh Harris. The 6-foot-6 senior had already struck out 12 but was tiring and needed a double play ball to escape the jam.
Oswego East No. 6 hitter Matt Schultz obliged by drilling a one-hopper up the middle toward Pearson, who was shading toward second base. But as Pearson approached the bag, he dropped the ball directly at his feet.
“Once he bobbled it I was kind of nervous for a second,” Harris said.
With the runner bearing down on second, Pearson calmly reached down with both hands, gathered the ball into his glove for the force out, transferred and threw on to first base in time to complete the double play and preserve Streamwood’s lead.
“It got a little tense, but I stayed through it and threw the guy out,” Pearson said.
“Hey, sometimes you’ve gotta get a little help from upstairs,” Streamwood coach Steve Diversey said.
The Sabres added a pair of unearned runs in their half of the sixth inning and senior Blake Hunter struck out 3 Wolves in the seventh to complete Streamwood’s nonconference win.
Just as important as the victory was the impressive outing by Harris, who underwent off-season surgery to repair the fifth metatarsal of his left foot. Though Streamwood’s ace had thrown well in preseason workouts, he left no doubt as to his health status after allowing 1 unearned run in 6 innings of 2-hit ball.
“I was a little nervous to see how I was going to come back, if I’d throw 100 percent,” said Harris, who walked three. “It’s holding up fine. I feel good. I think we all had some nerves coming in, but we got those out of the way and now we’re ready to play.”
Hunter, Streamwood’s No. 2 in the rotation, struck out the first two hitters he faced in the seventh. He allowed an infield hit, then struck out Oswego East leadoff hitter Matt Miller to end the game. Harris and Hunter combined to record 15 of 21 outs via the strikeout.
“Get it over quick and get us the win,” Hunter said of his late-inning philosophy.
Oswego East jumped to a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Cody Burton scored from third on a double steal. The Sabres answered with an unearned, first-inning run of their own when Pearson reached on an error and later scored on a balk by Wolves starting pitcher Eric Egan.
Streamwood second baseman Brandon Larkin-Guilfoyle gave the Sabres the lead for good in the fourth inning when he pulled Egan’s 0-2 delivery over the fence in right field for a solo shot and a 2-1 advantage.
“I was just looking to put the ball in play and luckily it went over the fence,” Larkin-Guilfoyle said.