Softball: Radke puts the hurt on Grayslake North
Losing a perfect game with two out in the seventh inning stung.
What Reagen Radke experienced earlier during Grayslake Central's 6-0 win over host Grayslake North on Thursday, however, hurt physically.
On a cool day when no one hit the hard-throwing righty hard, Radke accidentally hit herself. Hard.
Batting against Knights reliever Ashton Moore in the third inning of the Northern Lake County Conference game, Radke swung at an inside pitch and nearly knocked out some of her teeth. The ball tipped off her bat, somehow got under the face mask on her helmet and hit her upper lip and nose.
"My nose hurts really bad and my front teeth (as well)," Radke said after her 1-hit shutout gave coach Jason Schaal his 200th career coaching win (Grayslake Central and South Elgin combined).
"A fat lip right before prom is always a good time," she added, laughing.
Grayslake Central improved to 11-3 and 5-1 in the NLCC, while Grayslake North fell to 7-10 and 2-3. Radke's performance was as good as the Knights have seen this season.
"I had her for 22 balls and 58 strikes, or something along those lines," Grayslake North coach Lea Corcoran said. "When she throws strikes and throws consistently hard and hits her spots, it's going to be a rough day for the offense."
Radke, who's signed with NAIA Columbia College in Missouri, struck out 13 batters and didn't walk anyone. She set down the first 20 batters she faced, including three who bunted.
"I threw pretty much the same pitch the entire time," Radke said of her heavy-velocity drop curveball. "It has the most movement out of all my pitches, and it definitely has a little pop to it too. We just stuck with what was working."
Schaal wasn't worried how his ace would react after she fouled a pitch off her face.
"She throws a little harder when she's mad," said Schaal, smiling.
Radke was on the verge on throwing what Schaal believed would have been her first high school no-hitter. But after a foul popout for the second out in the seventh, Grayslake North's Grace Brown hit a groundball to Radke's left. Radke dived and got her glove on the ball, which trickled away from her. She retrieved it and, from her knees, underhanded a high throw to first baseman Elisa Koshy. A hustling Brown just beat the throw for a single.
"I just saw her on the ground and kept running," Brown said. "She was on her game today."
Grayslake Central's coaches thought Brown's hit could have been ruled an error.
"It's all right," Radke said. "It is what it is."
"It's a debate (whether it was a hit or error)," Schaal said. "It's a heck of a game by Reagen Radke. She's a great pitcher. She's done an outstanding job for us all season, and she was on fire today."
Grayslake Central scored three times in the third, which started with a walk to No. 8 hitter Lindsay Brust (2-for-3) and bunt hit by Bridget Marshall. Lexi Waigand (2 RBI) and Nicole Warren (2 RBI) each drove in runs in the inning.
Breanna Albert and Brust had singles in the Rams' 2-run fourth, and Albert had an RBI groundout in the fifth to complete the scoring.
"Every game, it's somebody else stepping up," Schaal said. "It's a great group of kids to work with. They show up on the field, they set goals, they know what they want to do, and they continue to work."