Softball: Glenbrook South tops Glenbrook North in CSL South rematch
The softball game between Glenbrook South and Glenbrook North on April 27 looked hardly anything like their game two weeks prior, at least on one half of the score book.
On April 27 in Northbrook, visiting Glenbrook South won the game 9-6. Facing the potential tying run at the plate, Titans pitcher Lauren Nicgorski stranded two Spartans baserunners on a groundout to second baseman Hayden Joseph in the bottom of the seventh inning.
When the two Central Suburban League South rivals met April 11, Glenbrook South capitalized on 8 Glenbrook North errors to win 10-1.
"We've improved a lot off our first game against GBS," said Glenbrook North junior center fielder Izzy Gott, 2-for-5 with 2 runs scored.
"This game we came in and we wanted to put up a fight. But GBS did fight back and they did a really good job at that, getting their hits, hitting the holes. But so did we, so I think it was a lot better," she said.
Glenbrook South lashed out 15 hits with slugger Christina Korompilas going 4-for-5 and leadoff hitter Kate Strellis going 3-for-5 with 2 runs scored.
Korompilas entered the game hitting .452 with 7 home runs. Glenbrook North pitcher Megan Dunbar, who faced 44 batters and threw 141 pitches in a complete-game effort, kept her in the ballpark on Thursday. Still, the junior catcher connected on the button every time, including a drive into the wind that two-hopped the left-field fence.
"First pitch is my pitch. I don't like getting deep in the count. Hit the ball in front of the plate. Back hip," Korompilas said.
"I can't really think about much up there, really empty head. You've got to know what you're doing type of thing. Same thing every time, no matter if the ball grounds out or the ball goes over the fence, it's the same swing every time."
Glenbrook South, which moved to 5-1 in the CSL South with New Trier scheduled for Tuesday and Evanston on Thursday, stranded 12 runners and left the bases loaded in the fourth and seventh innings against the resilient Dunbar.
Glenbrook North also left bags full twice, in the first inning against Nicgorski and again in the sixth when Nicgorski re-entered the game in relief of Emily Shim.
The Spartans rapped 11 hits but stranded 10 runners. In a pretty clean fielding game with 26 total hits, that was the main reservation for Glenbrook South coach Dana Boehmer and Glenbrook North counterpart Bridget Matsunaga, friendly rivals.
"It was a little bit frustrating," Boehmer said, "but we were finally able to kind of step up there. We just kind of kept slowly pushing throughout the game, which was nice."
It appeared the rematch might look like April 11 when Glenbrook South batted around and scored 4 runs in the second inning. Korompilas' double started it and Courtney Carlson's 2-run double ended the rally. Carlson had 2 hits as did senior shortstop Lauren Chin, who also drove in 2.
But Gott scored in the bottom of the third, then after Glenbrook South went up 6-1 in the top of the fourth inning, the Spartans' Colleen Miehl and Maddy Kuffel - 3-for-4 with 3 runs scored hitting ninth in Matsunaga's order - scored to trim the margin to 6-3.
"I just think our overall positivity was up," said Spartans junior third baseman Brecken Carsello. "The first game, after the first couple of innings we kind of just got down on ourselves. But I think today the whole morale of the team was a lot higher."
A walk to Tessa Hoffer with the bases loaded forced in Shim for a 7-3 Glenbrook South lead in the top of the sixth inning, but Glenbrook North scored 3 runs in the bottom half.
Batting around themselves, the Spartans amassed 5 hits and crept within 7-6 on sharply hit RBI singles by Gott, Sophia Gochis and Molly McAnally.
"It was definitely scary at some points," Boehmer said.
She was able to relax some when lefty slapper Strellis singled to lead off the seventh inning. The junior center fielder came around to score on Chin's single up the middle. Korompilas capped the day's scoring when her fourth hit ticked off scrambling shortstop McAnally's glove, scoring Chin.
"It's a huge season for us as a team," Korompilas said. "We're 5-1 in conference, that's a huge deal."
Glenbrook North dropped to 1-4 in the CSL South, but the Spartans felt a lot better than they did a couple weeks ago.
"Just had a couple errors in the field and left a couple girls on the bases. I think that was our only downfall," Matsunaga said. "Other than that I think we played a great game, and I would love to face them again."