Indians’ hitters stymied

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MARENGO – Vernon Hills’ Anna Christensen tested Marengo center fielder Alysa Grude’s arm twice Wednesday.

Both times, Grude made great throws that nailed Christensen at home plate to preserve a scoreless tie.

Unfortunately, the momentum from the exciting defense never carried over to the Indians’ next at-bat, and their defense couldn’t hold on forever.

After Marengo (29-7) committed its fourth error of the game in the top of the seventh, the Cougars finally capitalized with a pair of unearned runs. Cougars freshman pitcher Megan Meline stymied the Indians again in the bottom half to close out a 2-0 win that ended the Marengo softball team’s season in the IHSA Class 3A Marengo Sectional semifinal at Rod Poppe Athletic Fields. Vernon Hills advanced to the sectional title game Saturday.

“The bend-don’t-break defense finally broke,” Marengo coach Dwain Nance said. “It’s nobody’s fault. It’s a team effort and you know, it’s something that we can learn from.”

Marengo starting pitcher Danielle Simons threw 51⁄3 scoreless innings before giving way to Mattie McGuire with the bases loaded and one out in the sixth. McGuire got the next hitter to fly out to Grude, whose throw beat Christensen tagging from third.

After Marengo left runners on first and second in the bottom of the sixth, Meline singled to lead off the seventh for the Cougars. A sacrifice bunt moved her to second.

Christensen followed with an infield popup that McGuire (9-7) had a bead on. But the ball went off her glove and rolled to the dugout fence, giving Vernon Hills runners on second and third with one out.

Megan Kubacki followed with a single that fell in between shortstop Hallisey Kunde and Grude, scoring Meline for the game’s first run. A sacrifice fly scored Christensen.

Kunde, who plans to play softball at McHenry County College next season, said she and Grude didn’t communicate on the run-scoring single.

“I was going back, she was coming in, we didn’t communicate and it just dropped,” Kunde said.

Meline stymied Marengo’s hitters. She allowed only three hits, all of them with two outs. The Indians did not advance a runner past second base in the game.

“She must have been throwing something that was really fooling us because we never could put the ball on the bat very hard,” Marengo head coach Dwain Nance said. and “She kept it low and the umpire kept calling them strikes, so we had to hit it.”

Although the Indians had hoped for a return trip to state this season, Kunde said she was happy with the team’s season, their 29-7 record, and their regional title.

“Obviously right now it really stinks,” she said. “But throughout the whole year we’ve accomplished more than we wanted to, and that feels great.”