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Sports

Darkness Spoils Spartans Softball

With GBN's softball game against Fremd tied 9-9 after nine innings on Wednesday, the game was called on account of darkness in Northbrook.

The Glenbrook North Spartans and visiting Fremd Vikings each scored nine runs over nine innings of back and forth softball on Wednesday before the lights finally went out in Northbrook. Figuratively speaking, that is--the non-conference match-up ended in a tie on account of darkness, much to the disappointment of both sides.

"It's unfortunate," said Vikings head coach, Jim Weaver. "This was a really good game - it was a lot of fun."

Fremd (6-0-1), last year's Class 4A runner-up, scored three runs in the top of the first before the GBN bats came alive. Senior Lindsay Synek hit the first of her two home runs to lead off the bottom half of the inning and cleanup-hitter Colleen Ahern added a solo shot of her own to pull the Spartans within a run.

In the bottom of the second, GBN (4-2-1) tacked on five more runs, starting with an RBI single from pitcher Jenny Mctague; Synek then drilled a two-run shot over the wall in left center and Rachel Blitt added a two-RBI single to give GBN a 7-3 lead.

Mctague retired nine of the next ten batters she faced, but Fremd added a run in the sixth before rallying to tie the game in the top of the seventh.

"You can see it in the stats, we had great at bats today, but our defense wasn't the same," said GBN head coach Jenn Mau. "We made errors, we walked batters and we let them take the game away from us."

Shortstop Allie Gaeding reached on an error to start the final inning and two-hitter Amanda Matsumoto followed with a walk. Junior Brittan Ciura then unleashed a two RBI double that brought the Vikings back to life.

What followed, however, remains extremely questionable.

With Ciura on third, senior Megan Horn sent a ball deep to left field, and though it appeared that GBN's Katie Riley bobbled the ball, Horn was called out. Ciura eventually tagged and scored, but the decision left both teams confused, especially Weaver.

"The kids did a better job of refocusing than I did," said the Vikings' coach. "I was still chewing on it while I was calling pitches in the top of the next inning. We practice those types of things, putting them in situations where they're under pressure and that's an example of what we work on. I'm proud of them for it."

Down but not out, North responded in the bottom of the seventh as Ahern drew a walk to start the inning, but the junior was left stranded on third and the game moved to extras.

Fremd regained a two-run lead in the eighth as Sara Untiedt and Ciura each connected on RBI singles, but back came the Spartans and their bats once again. A single from Riley led to another two-run homer, this time from Mctague, knotting the game at nine, and that's where it stayed  as the umpires drew both coaches together and waved off the contest.

Though GBN fought back in extra innings, Mau and the Spartans were far from pleased with the outcome.

"Our kids have a lot of fight, heart and desire and I think they did a good job of fighting throughout the game today, but we're not satisfied," Mau said. "We did not want to lose, but coming away with a tie was not what we wanted."

A credit to the program that Weaver's built at Fremd, Mau said after the game that she would have been happy tying the Vikings in years past, but on Wednesday, she felt her team let one slip out of their hands.

"I think we have a great team and a great group of girls that works hard and understands what it takes to win--now we just need to execute each game," she said. "We have a team that could have and should have beat them today. When we have a 7-3 lead, we can't be satisfied with that."

For Weaver, it wasn't the outcome but his team's 'never-say-die' attitude that pleased him and his coaching staff, not to mention the play of pitcher Stacey Hyntka, who replaced starter Rachel Doering in the second.

"I'm very proud of how we performed on the offensive side and Stacey did an outstanding job today," said Weaver. "She located the ball well, had some good movement, kept us in the game and let our offense do what our offense does. We've been scoring runs, so if we can stay in the game, we've got a shot."

The area-ranked Vikings remained undefeated on the young season and the Spartans remained unblemished in their last four contests.

Both teams are back on the diamond Thursday afternoon as the Vikings travel to Lake Zurich while the Spartans take on Niles West in Skokie.

 

 

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