Softball: Undefeated Crystal Lake South rallies past Huntley
Crystal Lake South junior Kyra Swartz did a double take she was so surprised by the sign from her coach Scott Busam.
Bunt with two strikes? Against Huntley's hard-throwing Bri Bower?
Swartz asked Busam to go through the signs again. Once again came the bunt signal. She took a deep breath, squared around and put down the bunt, beating the throw to first.
That hit in the bottom of the sixth, the Gators' first against Bower, sparked a 4-run inning that turned a 2-0 deficit into a 4-3 victory, giving Crystal Lake South (12-0, 3-0) the early Fox Valley Conference lead over the defending champs (13-5, 3-1).
"Actually at first I thought he called the wrong thing," Swartz said. "I just knew I had to get it down to get on base. It was a big momentum starter."
Bower, coming off a no-hitter Saturday against St. Charles East, didn't give up a hit in the first five innings. The Red Raiders took a 1-0 lead in the first on Teagan O'Rilley's RBI single to score Kendra Mitchell, and made it a 2-0 game in the fifth when Grace Kutz delivered a 2-out RBI single.
Gators starter Christina Toniolo battled to keep her team within two runs, stranding nine runners. Two of those came in the top of the sixth, then the Gators finally got to Bower in their half.
After Swartz's bunt, Brooke Kuffel reached on an outfield error, and Alexis Pupillo singled to left field to score Swartz and make it 2-1.
Bower retired Emily Sulikowski on a fly ball for the second out, then got two strikes on Toniolo, who had struck out her first two at-bats. But this time Toniolo connected, driving the ball off the center field fence to plate two runs for a 3-2 lead.
"I was kind of down on myself but before I went up to bat I told myself I was going to hit it, I was going to hit it, I was going to hit it," Toniolo said. "And it worked. I'm really happy about that."
Baylee Kassel followed with a single up the middle, scoring an insurance run that proved to be the difference.
Huntley put the first two runners on base in the seventh. Sofia Tenuta singled and O'Rilley walked before Toniolo retired the next three batters on a pair of groundouts and Bower's fly out to right.
All four runs against Bower were unearned. She struck out seven and walked one. Tenuta and O'Rilley both had 2 hits.
"We put on a show, both teams," Huntley coach Mark Petryniec said. "Rematch should be good. Makes the race exciting. Hats off to Crystal Lake South. We needed that one extra hit and it didn't happen today."
Toniolo scattered 9 hits and 4 walks, striking out nine.
Afterward, Busam was still buzzing about Swartz's two-strike bunt.
"I don't know who was more nervous, me asking her to bunt with two strikes or her bunting with two strikes," Busam said. "I trust her, trust her hands, trust her eyes and she obviously has some trust in me. She knew we had to do something special. She came through big. She legged it out. It was as big as it gets."