Cary-Grove blasts past Jacobs
A team always wants to respond after giving up the lead, especially after defensive miscues caused the lead to go away.
The Cary-Grove softball team let a 3-0 lead slip away in the bottom of the fourth inning before scoring six times in the next half inning to pull away for a 10-3 victory over Jacobs in Algonquin.
“We made our mistakes and we answered back,” Trojans coach Tammy Olson said. “It really set the tone.”
Cary-Grove (12-3, 2-0 FVC Valley) took lead in the second inning, getting 3 unearned runs after a dropped third strike, which would have been the final out, and the throw to first was high. Two runs scored on that play and Lisa Semro drove in a run with the first of her 3 hits for a 3-0 lead.
The Golden Eagles (8-7, 0-2) tied the game at 3-3 in the bottom of the fourth. Nicky Chapa hit a one-out single to center. Courtney Cotugno was rounding third when the ball got past the Trojans center fielder, allowing Maggie Hansen to score from first. Chapa ended up on third and scored on another Cary-Grove error.
In the top of the fifth, Sara Markelonis walked to lead off. Lindsay Efflandt followed with a 2-run home run to right-center, taking advantage of the strong wind that was blowing out to right field, for a 5-3 lead. Rebecca Lowe had an RBI groundout, Jamie Deering added a run-scoring single and Semro had a 2-run triple to increase the Trojans’ lead to 9-3.
“I know we were struggling a little bit and I wanted to pick up my team,” Efflandt said of her at-bat. “Looking for a basehit and got lucky with the home run.”
Cary-Grove junior Sarah Leudo added a solo home run in the sixth. Leudo and Sarah Kendeigh each had 2 hits. Efflandt (11-3) earned the complete-game victory. The junior right-hander allowed 6 hits and 3 runs, only 2 earned. She walked 2 and struck out 4.
Chapa went 3-for-3 for Jacobs. Hansen was 2-for-3 with a double. McKayla Lein suffered the loss. The left-hander went 51⁄3 innings, giving up 11 hits and 10 runs, 7 earned. She struck out 2 and walked 2.
“We couldn’t get the defense going when we needed to and help our pitching staff out,” Golden Eagles coach Jeremy Bauer said. “You can’t give Cary-Grove extra outs like we did and expect to be pretty close. They’re going to take advantage of that and they did.”