Softball: Bradley comes up big for Grayslake Central
Heeding the advice of his assistant Meghan Lynn, Grayslake Central softball coach Jason Schaal tweaked his batting order Thursday. He moved up hot-hitting Grace Bradley from the sixth spot to second.
"I just knew I had to do everything I could to get on base," Bradley said.
The junior did more than that.
Bradley belted a 3-run, walk-off homer in the bottom of the eighth inning, lifting the Rams to an 11-8 win over visiting Lakes in Northern Lake County Conference action. Bradley's homer leading off the Grayslake Central sixth cut into an 8-3 deficit. She finished 3-for-5 with a first-inning single also included and scored 3 runs.
Talk about rising up.
"I'm just so proud of my team," a smiling Bradley said after her first walk-off home run and first 2-homer game. "Everyone was backing me up and cheering so loud."
The Rams poured out of the dugout to mob Bradley after her extra-inning blast. Their excitement was understandable considering they never led until the final swing. Down 8-5 heading into the last of the seventh, Grayslake Central (4-4, 2-1) got a leadoff single from Corinne Heidloff. An error and hit batsman loaded the bases with two out.
Lexi Waigand then delivered an RBI single on a 3-2 pitch to keep the game going. Elisa Koshy followed by rifling a 2-run single to tie the score.
After Bradley (4⅔ innings in relief, 0 earned runs) shut down Lakes (5-4, 1-1) in the top of the eighth, Heidloff doubled with one out in the Rams' half of the inning. Lakes coach Bill Hamill then intentionally walked leadoff hitter Morgan Smigielski.
"I just like to set up the force," Hamill said. "I wanted the double play for us because (Bradley) grounded out to short (in the third)."
Bradley foiled the strategy, hitting the first pitch she saw from Eagles ace Kayla Foote - "middle and up," Hamill said - way over the fence in left-center field. It was her third homer of the season.
"It was exciting," Bradley said. "I just saw (the pitch) down the middle."
Lakes got home runs from Camryn Jones, a 2-run shot in the first inning to open the scoring, and Kelsey Ulrich, a 2-run blast in the fourth that hiked the Eagles' lead to 4-1. With Lakes No. 3 hitter Molly Dietz sidelined after rolling her ankle while running out a second-inning flyball that was caught by a diving Bridget Marshall in center field, Schaal intentionally walked No. 2 hitter Ulrich in the fifth and seventh.
Bradley worked out of the trouble both times. Lakes didn't score after the fifth, leaving the bases loaded in the seventh.
"We just need to learn how to close out games," said Ulrich, who also doubled and finished 2-for-3. "I was cheering the girls on, (saying) 'We got this. We can't give up.' But some (games) get away from you."
Besides Ulrich, Lakes got 2 hits apiece from Rachel Becker, Jones, Foote, Ally Dietz and Georgia Ohren (double).
Brooke Heraty, Waigand, Koshy and Heidloff each had 2 hits for Grayslake Central. Besides Heidloff, Heraty, Waigand and Nicole Buerger doubled.
"I could not be more proud of this group of kids," Schaal said. "They work as hard as any group we've had. Hopefully we can use this momentum to get on a roll."