Softball: Jacobs hands Crystal Lake South 1st loss

Crystal Lake South entered Thursday's Fox Valley Conference matchup with host Jacobs with a perfect 19-0 record to start the 2019 campaign.

The Gators exited Algonquin with a 19-1 mark.

With a solid team effort and timely hitting, the Golden Eagles broke South's season-starting streak with a 6-2 win.

"Hats off to Jacobs. They were the better team today no doubt it," said South coach Scott Busam. "They outplayed us in every area of the game. They got great pitching, timely hitting and they took advantage of our mistakes. They deserved to win. We totally respect Jacobs' program. We had a great start to the season and we were going to lose a game. The girls were down after the game but now need to start another winning streak."

Sophomore Delaney Garden was outstanding in the circle for the Golden Eagles (5-2 FVC). She struck out 6 with 2 walks in earning the win.

"The home plate ump was giving me the outside corner so I kept the throwing the ball there," said Garden. "South is a great hitting team so I have to throw all my pitches well."

Jacobs coach Katie O' Brien was impressed with Garden's effort.

"Even though Delaney is only a sophomore I have total trust and faith in her," said O'Brien. "She was outstanding against a very good hitting South team. I put a lot of pressure on her but she could handle it. She is getting better every game."

Jacobs scored all the runs it needed with 3 in the second inning courtesy of run-scoring singles by Savannah Svedman, Sarah Lynch and Abby Ziwiski.

The Gators tallied their only runs of the game off Garden in the fifth on an infield grounder by Emily Sulikowski and a run-scoring single by losing pitcher Christiana Toniolo.

Jacobs added an insurance run in the bottom of the fifth on an RBI single by Lynch and 2 in the sixth on a run-scoring single by Lynch and an RBI double by Garden.

Lynch led the Golden Eagles' offensive attack with a 3-for-3 effort with 3 RBI while scoring twice.

Svedman and Armstrong collected 2 hits each for the winners.

"I liked the way we swung the bats all day long," said O' Brien. "We hit the ball hard and got a lot of timely hits. We were aggressive but swung at good pitches. We do a good job of relying on each other and trusting each other. We are coming together as a team nicely right now."

The Gators were led offensively by Kyra Swartz and Alexis Pupillo with 2 hits each.