Softball: Crystal Lake South abundantly good against Grayslake North
Crystal Lake South's average run total through two softball games is nearly as impressive as the number of letters in senior Alyssa Niketopoulos' name.
"Everyone mispronounces it," Niketopoulos said with a laugh of her last name, which is pronounced Nick-atop-il-iss.
Softball fans and PA announcers best learn the pronunciation of Niketopoulos, as well as the names of all of her teammates.
After scoring 11 runs in their season opener against Rockford Boylan, the Gators put together another strong offensive performance at Grayslake North on Thursday, pounding out 15 hits in a 10-6 win over the Knights in nonconference action.
Led by ninth-place hitter Kyra Swartz, who went 3-for-4 with a homer and 2 infield singles, Crystal Lake South (2-0) boasted nine players with at least 1 hit. Swartz and sophomore leadoff hitter Brooke Kuffel hit back-to-back homers in the sixth to break open what was a one-run game at the time.
"It's what we've been talking about all preseason," said coach Scott Busam, whose Gators won 19 games last season and have a veteran this squad this year. "It's not (just) 1,2, 3 (in the batting order). You saw a homer in the (No.) 9 spot, then you saw a homer in the leadoff spot. I don't want a weak spot in the order. They're patient hitters."
Sophomore cleanup hitter Jess Pozezinski led the way offensively for Grayslake North (1-2), going 3-for-4 with a double, homer and 3 RBI. Grace Brown, who was 5-for-5 in the Knights' first two games, finished 1-for-4 with a double, and Northern Iowa commit Faith Standerski had a pair of singles and an RBI.
"We haven't pieced it all together," Grayslake North coach Lea Corcoran said. "We're hitting the ball hard consistently, but it's the other things we haven't quite gotten all together. I thought we had good innings or good starts to an inning, and then it would get away from us, versus having that killer instinct and being able to put a stop to things."
Crystal Lake South had a 6-1 lead after the top of the fourth with UIC-bound Tina Toniolo in the circle. But after the 6-foot-2 righty allowed an RBI single to Ashton Moore in the fourth and then started the Grayslake North fifth by issuing a walk, single and double, Busam went to Niketopoulos. Pozezinski greeted her with a 2-run to cut the Knights' deficit to 6-5.
"I feel like after that, our energy went up and we came together," Pozezinski said.
"I was really nervous coming in," said Niketopoulos, who started the game as the Gators' DP. "I know I got my defense behind me. It was a little rocky at first, but I pushed through it."
An error put Knights on first and third with none out. But Niketopoulos got back-to-back strikeouts and a groundout to keep the visitors in front.
"It was definitely like, 'Oh, shoot,' " Pozezinski said. "But we just had to move on from there and keep doing our thing."
But then Swartz led off the sixth by smashing a long homer to left field off freshman reliever Gianna Cerda, and Kuffel followed with a blast to center.
Toniolo pitched 4 innings for the win, and the Mount Mercy-bound Niketopoulos got the final nine outs for the save, despite allowing a long homer to Pozezinski in the seventh. It was the only hit Niketopoulos allowed.
"It was great because she didn't do a lot of pitching for us last season," Busam said. "We had a senior girl last year, and it was Tina and her, and this year it looks to be Tina and Alyssa. We're going to count on (Niketopoulos), especially early in the year like this when we're trying to get Tina stronger so she can go all seven (innings) sometimes."
Niketopoulos also had a single in 4 at-bats. The Gators received 2 hits apiece from Kuffel, freshman catcher Alexis Pupillo (2 doubles, 3 RBI), Emily Sulikowski (RBI double) and Baylee Kassel.