POPLAR GROVE, Ill.—The campus of North Boone High School was the land of opportunity on Wednesday evening and the Vikings’ softball team was taking full advantage.
North Boone put the blustery wind, which was gusting well up to 40 miles per hour at times, to good use by blasting a pair of homers, pounced on Rock Falls whenever it made one of its four miscues and, most importantly, were opportunistic about increasing its chances at winning a Big Northern Conference title.
Those odds got higher after the Vikings took down the reigning champion Rockets 9-1. North Boone stays undefeated in the BNC at 5-0, maintains its tie for first place with Stillman Valley and puts some distance between itself and third-place Rock Falls (3-2).
It was the Vikings (11-2) eighth-straight win.
“We just came in focused,” head coach Tim Fleming said. “We had a good game plan of how we wanted to hit their pitcher, and they stuck with that. They strung some hits together. We talked a lot about just doing your job and just moving the next person over, we did that very well today.”
The old saying goes that revenge is a dish best served cold. For pitcher Cami Carter and the five other seniors, a mid-April day in the 50s made chilly by the intense breeze was the perfect setting to get back at the Rockets, who swept the Vikings last season. It was North Boone’s only two conference losses of the season.
“We just wanted to win,” Carter said. “We wanted revenge to show them that we’re a good team. And we are a good team, even throughout the years (when they beat us). We wanted to come out and play, make great contact.”
The gusty conditions made fielding tough, and North Boone took advantage of a pair of errors in the first to lead 2-0. Sydney Goodman started the frame by rocketing a ball at the third baseman, who misplayed it. Carter walked and Danielle Goodman scored her sister when the shortstop overthrew first base on a groundout. Abby Galarza, pinch running for Carter, then scored on a wild pitch.
“A day like today when you got the wind, it’s just important to just put the ball in play,” said Fleming of his Vikings, who struck out just thrice. “That comes down to the approach that they had. They were being aggressive and saw the ball well today.”
Lauren Stefek ripped a double to start the third and Carter blasted one over the right-field wall in the next at-bat.
“(The pitcher) was throwing me some meatballs, and I was like, ‘That one looks great,’” Carter said. “So, I just whacked it, and it was a straight line drive. That was great to get.”
Haven Hahn made it 5-0 later in the third with her RBI single.
Carter gave up her one hit of the day in the fourth when Olivia Osborne smacked one out for a solo homer. But Carter put her screwball to good use and struck out eight with just two walks in the complete game.
“Today, you did not want to throw it down the middle because they’d whack it,” Carter said. “You’d try to just (paint it on the outside) and if you miss, you miss.”
Danielle Goodman, who went 2-for-4, blooped a two-run double into right field in the fourth, and Marlee Alderman hit her second varsity bomb by crushing a solo homer to center in the fifth.
“I just wanted to make solid contact,” the freshman said. “That’s how I always feel: I want to make good contact. And it just went.”
Alderman is on a tear to start her prep career, hitting over .300 and providing a strong glove at first.
“My teammates, especially the seniors, have helped me challenge myself to help me become who I am,” Alderman, who went 2-for-3, added.
Carter got another run in on an error in the fifth to bring it to 9-1. The Vikings finished with nine hits and four walks.
And with a showdown with the Cardinals for sole possession of first-place looming on Friday at 4:30 p.m., North Boone hopes to keep the good times rolling.
“The momentum really does help because it makes us stay up on ourselves,” Carter said. “It makes us have so much energy and when we do that, we play great.”
• LINESCORE:
NORTH BOONE 9, ROCK FALLS 1
RF 000 100 0 — 1 1 4
NB 203 220 — 9 9 0
Leading hitters: RF, Osborne 1x3, 1 Run, 1 RBI. NB, S. Goodman 1x3, 2 Runs; Stefek 1x4, 1 Run; Carter 1x2, 1 Run, 2 RBI; Goodman 2x4, 2 RBI; Hahn 1x4, 1 RBI; Alderman 2x3, 1 Run, 1 RBI; Pearce 1x3, 1 Run.
Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): RF, Smit (L) 4.0-7-7-4-3-2, Silva 2.0-2-2-1-1-1. NB, Carter (W) 7.0-1-1-1-2-8.
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