Salata, Bartlett earn split with Huskies

Naperville North's bats caught fire late in the first game of Saturday's nonconference doubleheader to victimize Bartlett pitcher Alicia Salata in a 9-2 Huskies victory.

But Salata got her revenge, and not with her arm. Salata came in as a replacement after Andreanna Taormina injured her hand in the second game, and the junior delivered a walk-off single to left just beyond the infield that gave the Hawks an 8-7 comeback win for a split.

"My nerves were just all over the place," Salata said about her crucial at-bat with two out. "But I just focused, watching the ball come out of the pither's hand and just went with it."

The two-strike hit drove in winnning pitcher Amanda Montbriand from third in the seventh after Brittney Idler had scored the tying run from third on a well-executed suicide squeeze bunt by Cara Carrion off losing relief pitcher Stephanie Hahne (0-1).

"Alicia did a great job of really just trying to make contact," Bartlett coach Jim Wolfsmith said about the winning hit. "It was a two-strike hit and she did a good job battling to put that hit right where it needed to be."

The bunt moved Montribrand to third and set up the winning hit by Salata.

"It was ours, and they stole it from us," Naperville North coach Jerry Kedziora said of the possible doubleheader sweep. "It was totally disappointing. It was a game we easily could have had.

"Good teams playing at their best will have that game, but right now we didn't."

Naperville North had trailed 1-0 in the first game after a home run by Bartlett's Jacki Gulczynski off winning pitcher Emily Dieckmann (3-0). But the Huskies then got a few infield hits off Salata (0-2) and took a 2-0 lead in the fifth, added two in the sixth and finally blew the game open with five in the seventh. Sammy Marshall homered and Hannay Skrabacz, Danielle Spizzirri, Amandi Spizzirri, and Caitlyn Warren had two RBI each for North (3-2).

"I think they just got the momentum going and all the sudden we started hitting the ball," Kedziora said. "It just came in bunches. I wish we could have saved a couple from the first game for the second one."

Dieckmann shut down Bartlett on three hits in Game 1 while striking out four and walking three.

"She didn't have her best stuff, threw a lot of pitches, but we got some clutch hits to help her out," Kedzoria said.

North picked right up with the scoring in the second game off Montbriand (2-3), scoring three runs in both the first and third, but the Hawks fought back with three runs in the first and the third. Then Montbriand settled down and allowed only one run over the final five innings, striking out three and walking two. She gave up eight hits the first two innings and only three more the rest of the way -- including the go-ahead RBI double in the fifth by Tara Degl'lnnocenti that gave North a 7-6 edge.

But in the seventh, Bartlett had a one-out single by Idler, single by Montbriand and the tying suicide squeeze from Carrion before Salata's hit.

"I give our girls a lot of credit," Wolfsmith said. "They've got a lot of character. It hasn't been an easy start to the season because we're 4-6 now, but I think we've been playing some better softball lately."

Idler had two hits and two RBI, Carrion two hits and an RBI, and Gulczynski an RBI double in Game 2. For North, Michelle Cavoto had three hits, Warren a double and two RBI, Diekmann two hits and an RBI, and Kendall Vassar two hits and an RBI in Game 2.

The Huskies played without Marshall in the second game due to a personal commitment while Bartlett was down Taormina and Lisa Matsie for a personal commitment, and Steph Tomazin due to hand injury in that game.

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