CHICAGO, Ill. – North Park Softball had to settle for another split on Tuesday afternoon in their last non-conference games of the season. Against Benedictine, the Vikings won game one 3-2 before falling 9-6 in game two inside the Holmgren Athletic Complex.
Game One: North Park 3, Benedictine 2
After a scoreless first inning for sophomore Maya Lafnear and the North Park defense, the Vikings marked their first run of the game in their first opportunity at the plate.
Sophomore center fielder Eden Baker dropped down a bunt single and moved up with a steal. Lafnear moved her up to third on a sac bunt before taking off for home, following a 1-3 groundout by sophomore shortstop Kayla Lorenz.
The Eagles got one run each in the third and fourth innings on an RBI double by Haley Barnes and a run-scoring single by Oppenhuis.
North Park would go ahead in the bottom of the fourth thanks to a no-doubt home run by Lorenz that careened off the Vikings' clubhouse, her first Holmgren homer of the season.
The two-run shot included a run from Lafnear, who reached base earlier on an infield error. Lafnear continued to make her mark in the next three innings in the circle. Lafnear, who has surrendered two runs or less in the past four of five outings, blanked the Eagles the rest of the way en route to NPU's 3-2 win.
- Lorenz with the go-ahead shot in the fourth
- Lorenz was responsible for all three Viking runs in game one
- Lafnear tosses a CG, allowing only two runs in her fourth win of the season
- Baker swipes a base in the first inning
Game Two: Benedictine 9, North Park 6
The second game of the doubleheader was all going North Park's way. Freshman starter Gabby Gonzalez-Villegas tossed four shutout innings while North Park took a three-run lead through four.
In the first inning, Baker singled before getting all the way to third on a fielding error and blown infield coverage. Next, Lafnear dropped down an RBI bunt, scoring Baker. Lorenz cracked a single to left and moved up on a sac bunt by sophomore first baseman Salyssa Garcia. However, a pair of popups nullified the threat.
The two-run third inning for North Park started when Lorenz singled through the right side before swiping second. Next, with two outs, sophomore catcher Katie Patton singled to right-center before sophomore third baseman Kathryn Keehn cracked a double off the left field wall to put NPU up, 3-0.
Benedictine got their first runs in the fifth inning on an RBI double from Deutscher and sac fly by Bruno to close the gap to 3-2, NPU. However, a sac fly by Keehn and RBI single by sophomore Sydney Snyder in the Vikings' next trip to the plate established a four-run Viking lead, 6-2.
Unfortunately, when all seemed to be going to plan, things fell apart for the Vikings in the seventh. The Eagles manufactured six runs off of just three hits. Five free passes, a costly error, and a two-out triple spelled disaster for North Park, who ended up suffering a 9-6 loss.
- Four different Vikings with multi-hit games:
- Keehn was the lone XBH – an RBI double in the third
- BenU's Breanna Deutscher was 2-for-4 with a double and a triple
North Park (8-18, 3-3 CCIW) will play four of its next five series on the road, beginning with a pair at Wheaton College on Friday, April 19. First pitch at Ruth Leedy Field is set for 3:00 PM.
