Neubauer, Batavia tip Huntley

With one swing of the bat, Katie Neubauer accomplished a variety of things.

Most important of all, the Batavia junior delivered a game-winning hit with her single off the right-field fence in the bottom of the eighth with two outs.

Neubauer also picked up the pitching victory in the Bulldogs' season-opening 7-6 softball victory over Huntley Saturday afternoon in Batavia.

Finally, the clutch single offered Neuberger a sense of redemption after her throwing error in the top of the eighth led directly to the Raiders taking a 6-4 lead into extra innings.

“The team had been playing so well,” Neubauer said after driving home Katie Ryan, who had tripled two batters earlier to knot the game for the second time at 6-6. “I owed it to them.”

The Bulldogs' triumph was neither atheistically pleasing nor conventional, but its level of excitement was undeniable.

Twelve of the teams' combined 19 hits went for extra-bases, and each side suffered a lone strikeout.

“This was a hitting display by both teams today,” said first-year Batavia coach Ashley Szymski. “(Neubauer) is not going to quit after she makes mistakes.”

Neither team was retired in order, and 11 errors blotted the final scorecard.

Huntley seemed to be in cruise control after Tara Lycos' sacrifice fly followed Brittany Koss' run-scoring single to give the Raiders a 6-4 lead heading into the Bulldogs' eighth.

But Batavia had the ultimate response.

Katie Coleman began the uprising with a lined-shot triple to the right-center field gap.

“I should have dove for it but chickened out at the last minute,” said Koss, the Raiders' center fielder.

Lindsay McEachern was credited with a sacrifice fly when the Raiders muffed her line drive in the outfield.

Ryan, hitless in 4 previous at-bats, then smoked another triple to right-center to tie the game.

“I was nervous,” Ryan said. “I hadn't hit anything (hard) the whole game.”

Huntley starter Taylor Larson induced an infield pop for the second out, but Neubauer went the opposite way to end the game with what would have been the 13th extra-base hit of the contest.

The Raiders' Nikki DeMarco and Angela Tribuzio opened the Huntley fourth with back-to-back doubles to produce the first earned run of the game and a 4-1 lead.

Neubauer reduced the Bulldogs' cushion to 4-2 with an RBI-double in the fifth, and extra-base hits by Christine Lynam, Emily Dorjath and McEachern enabled Batavia to forge a 4-4 tie after six.

“Both teams hit the ball really well,” said Huntley coach Mark Petryniec. “There were a lot of defensive mistakes on both sides. Anytime you give up 6 errors, you're probably not going to win the game.”

The Bulldogs' took the second game of the doubleheader by an identical 7-6 result.

Lynam hit a pair of home runs in driving in four, while Coleman fanned 11 with no walks in earning the decision for Batavia (2-0).

Huntley (0-2) scored five times in the fourth to take a 6-5 lead, but Dorjath had a run-scoring double to conclude the Bulldogs' 2-run fifth inning.