Marian Catholic tops Marist in wild one

Updated: May 9, 2011 7:22PM

Softball can be a cruel game.

Both Marist and Marian Catholic were reminded of that Monday when the two squads squared off in a battle of two undefeated teams in the East Suburban Catholic. The Spartans (22-4, 11-0) rallied to score three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning for the 6-4 victory in a thriller in Chicago.

“That was just crazy,” Marian coach Kerri Evans said. “I guess when you have two really good teams, strange things are going to happen.”

Marian’s cruel inning came in the bottom of the fifth with two outs and no runners on, holding on to a 3-2 lead. After a bunt single by Megan James, Teagan Walsh hit a line drive off the knee of Spartans pitcher Rebecca Gray. Gray immediately collapsed, with James and Walsh moving up to second and third.

Gray was carried off the field and Marian was forced to rush Rachel Glenn, who was suffering from a tight hamstring, into the game to pitch. Brook Wyderski laced a single off Glenn, scoring both James and Walsh to give Marist a 4-3 lead.

Marist’s cruel inning came in the top of the seventh, still grasping on to a 4-3 lead.

After a leadoff single by Brianna Clark, EraShawna Sadler hit a dribbler that Wyderski couldn’t handle at third base. In the next at-bat, Alexandra Nickel (1-for-4, 2 RBI, run) hit another ground ball to Wyderski, but the ball took a bounce at the lip of the infield and hopped over her glove, allowing the tying run to score.

“We wanted to come back and help our pitchers,” Nickel said. “We knew this was a conference-decider, so we really wanted this one bad.”

With the go-ahead run at third and no outs, Glenn sent a ground ball to James at second base and James went home with it, but had no chance at getting a sliding Sadler, making it 5-4 Marian. One batter later, Rebecca Stanton hit an infield single to make it 6-4.

Glenn sent down Marist in order in the bottom half of the seventh to give Marian its 14th straight victory.

“I was flustered coming into the game, but we all picked each other up,” Glenn (2-for-4, 2 RBI) said. “We’re ready to come back and do this again next game.”

Frankie Rys added two RBI for Marist (16-8, 10-1).

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