Naperville-North Huskies find comfort zone
No stranger to toeing the rubber herself, Naperville North's Lauren Clouston knows how crucial a multiple-run lead can be for a pitcher's comfort level.
On Friday afternoon Clouston did all she could to make Huskies starter Layne Engel relax on the diamond, smashing a 3-run home run in the third and pacing Naperville North to a 7-3 road victory over Glenbard South.
Sarah Adams' sacrifice fly to left field gave the Huskies (3-0) a 1-0 third-inning lead. After Emily Dieckmann reached based on a two-out error in the top of the third, Clouston ripped a blast nearly identical to her double, this one clearing the fence by a considerable margin.
"I was pretty much focusing on hitting the first pitch. That's something my batting coach tells me to do," Clouston said. "She just left it in my wheelhouse, and I just took it out."
Clouston's homer staked Naperville North to a 4-0 advantage, with the Huskies tacking on one more third-inning run as Engel continued to frustrate the Raiders (1-4) offense. Engel sidestepped trouble for most of the game, coming within a single out of finishing off Glenbard South by herself. With two runners on and two outs in the bottom of the seventh, Dieckmann came on in relief to earn the game's final out.
"Layne pitched awesome today," Huskies coach Jerry Kedziora said. "She goes and gets them. She wants to be out there, she wants the ball all the time, and that's what I love about her.
"She doesn't like to come out of the game. She's our No. 1 right now, and we're looking for her to do really good things this year."
Naperville North pushed its lead to 7-1 in the top of the fifth, as the Huskies bats again came through with two outs. This time catcher Gabby Masini drilled a double over the head of Raiders center fielder Jenny Klich, scoring Clouston and Jessica Stapleton.
"I was really excited that (the offense) was really contagious," Clouston said. "We did really good at stringing together hits, and I was really proud of us as a team for that."
Glenbard South freshman pitcher Danielle Chitkowski battled for the entire game, continuing to impress coach Julie Fonda with her poise.
Despite the rocky start to the season, Fonda believes her team will turn things around.
"We're going to make a difference," she said. "It's just going to take time, and hopefully it'll click eventually."
Naperville north 7, glenbard south
Naperville North 005 020 0 -7-8-3
Glenbard South 001 002 0 -3-5-4
2B: NN: Clouston, Masini, Stapleton;
HR: NN: Clouston.
WP: Engel (2-0) LP: Chitkowski (0-3).