Glenbard North rallies by Batavia twice

Better late than never worked perfectly for Glenbard North not once but twice Wednesday against visiting Batavia.

The Panthers started by rallying from a 2-1 deficit in Game 1 to win 3-2 in the bottom of the seventh, then followed by breaking open a 0-0 tie with five runs in the final two innings for a 5-0 victory in Game 2.

Glenbard North coach Josh Sanew wouldn’t mind seeing his team get going a little sooner.

“You would like to attack a little earlier,” Sanew said. “You can only live and die so long playing catch-up or waiting late to score and letting teams stay in games and Batavia has a nice team, they return a lot of players.”

After Lilly Fecho put Glenbard North (4-0) ahead 1-0 with a solo home run in the opener, Batavia (3-3) took a 2-1 lead in the third. A walk and hit batter put a pair of runners in scoring position, and Dayton recruit Katie Ryan — who blasted 18 home runs last year and already had 2 in Batavia’s first 4 games this year — brought both runners in with a 2-run single.

That turned out to be all the offense on the day for Batavia. Fecho earned the win in Game 1, striking out 11 and walking 3 while allowing 4 hits.

“Facing tougher pitchers our batters it starts to get in their heads a little too much,” Batavia coach Ashley Szymski said. “You need a clear-cut game plan when you get in the batter’s box, this is how it needs to be. Facing these better pitchers it is good to realize it about yourself and how you can adjust in the future.”

Glenbard North tied the game 2-2 on Ashley Stiver’s solo homer in the fifth. It was the third home run by three different players in the Panthers’ first four games.

“It’s exciting there’s a few people on our team that can hit home runs,” the Purdue-bound Fecho said. “It’s a big part of the game. It gets momentum shifted your way.”

The Panthers won the game when Batavia made a pair of errors in the seventh against tough-luck losing pitcher Katie Coleman.

“We needed that break because we sure weren’t hitting the ball well,” Sanew said.

Junior Lindsey Cherry shut out Batavia in Game 2, striking out eight and walking none while allowing 5 singles.

“Everything seemed to be working well with my spins and everything,” Cherry said. “Plus everyone did a great job with their defense and hitting came around eventually. Walks kill so it’s always good to do your job as a pitcher.”

Batavia’s Katie Neubauer was just as good early, retiring the first 10 batters she faced. Alex Caliva broke the tie with a soft liner to right field in the fifth to score Stiver who had walked.

Freshman Sarah Petzold started Glenbard North’s 4-run sixth with a single. Sydney Benz and Caliva both drove in runs with singles.

Sami Villarreal led Batavia going 2-for-3.

Szymski wanted to toughen up the team’s nonconference schedule this season which she has done the last two days after splitting with West Chicago Tuesday.

“Any time you get to play new teams, tough teams, it’s always good,” Szymski said. “It lets you know where you are at, what you need to do to kick it into gear for conference. Close games. We were right there both times. We need that last extra push to get us over.”