Softball: Grayslake Central wins slugfest against Grayslake North

Her pitching mask hid tears, but Grayslake Central's Grace Bradley barely flinched when she took a line drive off her left shin. Likewise, her teammate Avery Nims showed a pinch of "rub some dirt in it" toughness when a pitch hit her in the left ankle.

So what did Grayslake Central's softball team do when it got punched in the gut by visiting Grayslake North, which went up 8-3 midway through Tuesday's Northern Lake County Conference opener? The Rams toughened up, of course.

Avery Nims' 3-run home run in the bottom of the sixth inning - the seventh homer of the game and fourth by hosts - was the difference as Grayslake Central rallied and then held off Grayslake North in the seventh to capture an 11-10 win.

"This was one of my favorite games I've ever been a part of because we were just very strong in terms of mental will," said Nims, the Rams' junior third baseman. "Even when we made physical mistakes, it was our mental structure that helped us come back."

Grayslake Central (4-2) hit for the "homer cycle." The Rams also got a grand slam by Bradley, two-run shot by Elisa Koshy and solo blast by Ashlyn Coleman. Grayslake North (5-4) got a solo shot by Faith Standerski, three-run homer by Alyssa Carr and solo homer by Nicole Hughes. Carr and Hughes went back to back in the fourth, highlighting a 6-run inning that had the Knights up 8-3.

Grayslake Central promptly responded by scoring 5 runs in the bottom of the frame, which Bradley capped by hitting a first-pitch offering from Knights starter Emily Mack high over the fence in center field.

"We had too big of a lead to let them get back in the ballgame," Grayslake North coach Lea Corcoran said. "That's on us. We got to be better than that."

Bradley looked like she might exit the game early after Caitlin Barenbaum smoked a ball off her shin in the second inning. Bradley calmly retired Barenbaum at first base and then, after a short delay as coach Jason Schaal visited her in the circle, took one warmup pitch before resuming.

"I did a little run (in the pitching circle)," Bradley said. "It hurt really bad, at first. I was crying. It was that initial shock, but then I was running around. I've gotten hit before."

The Carroll University-bound Bradley went the distance, allowing only 3 earned runs (all 6 in the fourth were unearned). She ran into trouble in the seventh thanks to a leadoff single by Evan Garrett and infield error. After the Rams intentionally walked Grace Brown (2-for-3, RBI, 2 walks) to load the bases, Jess Pozezinski (2-for-3) lifted a sacrifice fly to pull the visitors within one. But Bradley retired the dangerous Carr on a comebacker to end it.

"Their (Nos.) 2, 3, 4 hitters are some of the best around," Schaal said of the Knights' Standerski, Brown and Pozezinski. "We're good hitters too. And when we needed the hits today, the girls showed up."

Koshy went 3-for-4, while Bridget Marshall, Corinne Heidloff and Coleman each had a pair of hits.

"We're a good-hitting team," Bradley said. "I knew that we were going to put runs on the board. That always helps to take the stress off me (when pitching). If I'm not doing well individually, my team will back me up."

Nims' go-ahead homer was her third of the season after she hit a pair in Florida. In addition to her hit by pitch, she had struck out twice before coming to the plate in the sixth against reliever Evan Garrett with Koshy and Bradley aboard.

"I think a lot of times when someone hits a home run it feels like it changes the game, but that didn't feel like it changed the game at all," Nims said. "It felt like I was just going off all the momentum that my teammates gave me."

Grayslake North's Hughes, a freshman, finished 4-for-4, and her homer was her first of the season. She was not on the varsity's season-opening roster but traveled with the team on Spring Break and has continued to impress.

"She went down to Florida with us and she hit really well," said Corcoran, whose Knights also got 2 hits from Ashton Moore. "Sometimes you got to go with the hot bat."