Softball: Metea Valley tops Glenbard North
Friday afternoon's weather conditions were hardly conducive to an action-filled high school softball game.
The wind was coming from the north, which means it was blowing right into the Metea Valley softball field, and the wind made the low 50s temperatures seem much, much colder.
There were plenty of highlights, however, for the Mustangs. They took advantage of small-ball opportunities early, and then their bats warmed up to beat Glenbard North 7-3.
The nonconference win pushed Metea to 7-3.
"It makes you harder to stop, being versatile at the plate," said Mustangs coach Kris Kalivas. "We have a lot of quick kids when they are on the bases and that produces more runs."
Metea took a 1-0 advantage in the bottom of the third. Nicole Orloff led off with a walk and stole second. A groundball out moved her to third and Emily Finger's groundball out would score her.
The next inning saw Glenbard North (5-5) take a 3-1 advantage thanks to RBI singles from Isabella Eggert and Kaitlyn Scheitler.
The Mustangs responded in their half of the fourth with the help of two errors by the Panthers, a sacrifice fly by Rissa Bajusz and infield hit by Morgan Bond to take a 4-3 lead.
"The wind was definitely a factor, but we were able to track pitches after the first inning," Bond said.
A 3-run sixth by Metea provided some needed insurance. Bond started the inning by reaching on a dropped third strike. Orloff's infield hit bunt moved Bond to third and a throwing error scored Bond and move Orloff to third. She came home on Bajusz's double to left.
Bajusz moved to third on Emily Finger's groundball out, and she came home on a wild pitch.
"We had a lot of opportunities and we took advantage of those and jumped on them," she said.
Nevaeh Cruz was the winning pitcher for Metea. She allowed six hits in the complete-game victory and struck out three.
Glenbard North coach Josh Sanew said for it was a simple case of not taking advantage of the opportunities the Panthers got.
"We had people on base and we took ourselves out of innings," he said. "We were too anxious to pull the ball instead of thinking down the middle. And we just didn't get that contagious hit that leads to more."