Softball: Lake Park beats Naperville North in eighth inning
Lake Park just kept on applying pressure and eventually it was too much for a young Naperville North softball squad to handle Monday afternoon in Naperville.
The Lancers had 13 hits - many of the infield variety - and used some aggressive baserunning to eventually score twice in the top of the eighth inning on their way to an exciting 3-2 softball defeat of the Huskies. Lake Park, 10-4 overall and 2-1 in the DuPage Valley Conference, had two runners thrown out at the plate and actually trailed 1-0 in the sixth before finally scoring on pitcher Dani Biesiada, who was the hard-luck loser.
Lake Park's lead run in the top of the eighth actually scored on the same play in which they had a runner thrown out at home. But Jess Gaseor, who was on second base when the play started, raced home after the Huskies threw out Courtney Worcester. Naperville North catcher Alexis Hilgert tagged out Worcester after third baseman Maddie Vassar fielded a grounder and threw home in time, but Gaseor stole home after Hilgert threw the ball back to the mound following the play at the plate.
When Emily Frank added a bunt single and Megan McCabe a sacrifice fly, the Lancers had picked up a crucial insurance run on the way to the 3-2 victory.
"We're taught that when the pitcher walks to the mound, if she's not looking, to always go," said Gaseor, who scored her team's first run in the sixth after leading off with a single and stealing second base. "So that's what I did. I stayed off the base and scored a run. We stuck through it and fought."
The wild eighth inning would not have come about had Lancers freshman pitcher Natalie Grubczak (6-1) not worked out of a big jam in the bottom of the seventh with the scored 1-1. Hilgert led off for the Huskies and was hit by a pitch. She advanced to third on a wild pitch and a passed ball as Sarah Smith was coaxing a walk.
When Smith swiped second, the Huskies had runners at second and third with no outs and just needed one run to win the game. A strikeout by Grubczak was followed by a pair of groundouts, the first of which led to a rundown between third and home and the Huskies' golden opportunity had evaporated.
Lake Park took that boost into the eighth inning and eventually scored twice to prevail.
"I'm just thinking hit my spots. When you hit your spots good things happen," said the hard-throwing Grubczak of her mindset in the seventh. "You stay positive and your team stays positive and you get them out."
After escaping the jam good things seemed to carry over into the top of the eighth for the Lancers.
"As soon as you get that out, everyone has so much energy, and every one's up on the fence … everyone has the energy to get those runs in."
Morgan Johannes' 2-out double in the bottom of the eighth scored Biesiada to make the score 3-2 before a groundout ended the game.
"We made some young errors and we had some young girls in that spot, and we didn't come through," Huskies coach Jerry Kedziora said after his team suffered the tough loss to drop to 1-8, 0-3. "Hopefully we learn from it and hopefully we'll move forward."
The Naperville North coach was impressed with the young Lancers' pitcher and with Lake Park's aggressive play.
"They run. They bunt. They put the pressure on us and defensively we made some young errors," he said. "We're going to learn from them and that's what's good, we've been learning from the young mistakes throughout the season.
"She was handcuffing us all day. Morgan got a shot double but we didn't hit the ball very hard today. They just didn't make any mistakes. That's DVC softball, you make one mistake and you can lose the game."