CHICAGO, Ill. -- The Vikings softball team matched up with the Elmhurst Blue Jays on Tuesday afternoon for a CCIW double-header, dropping Game 1 by a score of 5-13 in 6 innings before flipping the script in Game 2 to win 10-1 in 5 innings. The split moves North Park to 6-4 in the CCIW to tie the 2013 and 2016 Vikings for the most conference wins in school history. Those teams both went 6-8 to close the season, so this year's team has a chance to rewrite the record books later today when they take on the Carthage Firebirds in Kenosha for a double-header starting at 3:00 P.M.
Game 1
NPU found themselves trailing 0-4 before their first trip to the plate in Game 1. However, the Vikings would go on to score three runs before their fourth at-bat. Back-to-back triples by leadoff hitter Eden Baker and Kathryn Keehn first got NPU on the board. Kayla Lorenz then walked, and a perfectly executed first-and-third steal play allowed Keehn to score to make it a 2-4 ballgame. Lorenz picked up two bases to move from first to third, so that singular play ties her for the third-most steals in a game in Vikings' history. She then scored on a wild pitch that walked Alyssa Malicki, and later in the inning, a double by Maddy Tan scored Malicki to even the game at 4-4.
By the Vikings' next trip to the plate, they found themselves trailing by three runs. North Park loaded the bases so that a dropped third strike allowed Baker to cross the plate for their fifth run, but that would be the last the team scored for the shortened game's remainder. Elmhurst proceeded to score in three of the next four innings before the game went final after the 6th inning at 5-13.
Individually, Eden Baker led the Vikings in hits with a 3-4 day while Kathryn Keehn and Emily Reczek picked up 2 hits each as the only other players with a multi-hit effort. Those three combined for 7 of NPU's 8 hits in Game 1. Meanwhile, Kayla Lorenz managed a standout 0-0 performance, picking up 4 BB to tie the school record set by Annalis Matta in 2011.
Game 2
With Alyssa Malicki in the circle, the Vikings bounced back in a big way in Game 2. Malicki first got NPU on the board with a solo shot to left field in the 2nd inning, extending her school record with the 16th HR of her career.
North Park followed that up in the next inning with 3 runs to increase the early lead. Kathryn Keehn marked her second XBH of the day with a double to plate Maya Lafnear, and later in the inning, two more doubles by Emily Reczek and Malicki eventually brought the score to 4-0.
Elmhurst scored in the bottom half of the 3rd, but that was all they could manage against Malicki in Game 2. A scoreless 4th frame followed with each team going down 1-2-3, then in the 5th, the Vikings bats exploded for 6 runs to repay the favor and put the slaughter rule into effect.
Alyssa Malikci notched her third XBH of the game with a bases-loaded double to score Lorenz and Keehn and make the score 6-1. Singles by Maddy Tan and Maya Lafnear followed to plate another two runs for North Park. In between their base hits, Katie Patton drew her 17th walk of the season which moves her into a 10th place tie in program history. The last runs of the game for NPU would come on a double by Eden Baker, bringing the score to its final tally of 10-1.
Malicki's final line as the winning pitcher read 5.0 IP, 3 H, 1 BB, 4 K, and 1 ER, and she picked up 8 total bases at the plate with a 3-3 day that included a solo HR and two doubles. Kathryn Keehn also recorded a 3-hit effort in Game 2 to make it a total of 5 hits on the day for the freshman. Eden Baker and Maya Lafnear were the other Vikings with multiple hits on the day with two apiece. Baker's two hits get her onto softball's single-season top ten leaderboard with plenty of time to move up further, while Lafnear's mark the first multi-hit game of her college career.
