Softball: Niles North edges Maine West

Maine West's leading home run hitter last spring got the first one of her senior season on Tuesday in Skokie.

Kayla Pociejewski's first official homer - she had one at Resurrection in a suspended game - pulled the Warriors to within 5-4 of host Niles North in the top of the fifth inning.

"Thank God she had her breakfast," joked Warriors coach Mike McGovern. "She hit that into the wind and I thought that might stop it."

But the Vikings were able to stop the Warriors from scoring any more runs and hung on for a 5-4 triumph to remain undefeated in the Central Suburban North softball standings.

Niles North (7-4, 3-0) returned seven players from last year's 30-6 team that was the CSL North co-champion with Deerfield. The Vikings visit Deerfield on Thursday.

"They're (Niles North) coming back from a very good season," McGovern said. "I thought Allison Eby (sophomore) did a great job pitching against them. We made some mistakes on defense that cost us."

The game marked the season debut of West junior Grace Feldkamp, an all-area pitcher who has been sidelined following shoulder surgery last year.

She played shortstop on Tuesday and went 2-for-4 with a double from the No. 3 spot.

Pociejewski went 3-for-4 with her two-out 2-run homer (Gabrielle Demma had reached on an error) in the fifth that cleared the left-center field fence.

"She's (Pociejewski, who had 10 homers last year) really a good hitter," said Karen Wick, who has been coaching at Niles North the last 13 years after serving as head softball coach at Wheeling. "Our kids have been playing with a lot of confidence but they like to make the games close like this one. That's been our M.O."

With one out in the top of the sixth, West senior Jordan Hart was robbed of extra bases when Alyssa Aragon made a nifty leaping grab in deep center field.

Katelyn Aragon followed with an infield error and Nicole Byerly singled to center for runners on first and second.

Wick then called on Dwyer to take the mound and she got the final out on a popout to third.

Dwyer (6-2), who belted a 2-run homer in the first inning, ended up with the save after Juliana Livieri (1-2) worked the first 5⅔ innings for the win.

Vikings leadoff batter Gina Hoy entered the game hitting .400. The three-year starting shortstop went 2-for-3 with a walk as the Vikings won their first conference home game.

"This was a good win for us," Hoy said. "Now we have a big one coming up at Deerfield Thursday."

Demma and Monica Liwag also had hits for Maine West (1-7, 0-3) which hosts Maine East on Thursday.