Ottawa-Sycamore pitchers' duel ends in NIB 12 tie

SYCAMORE — Sycamore softball coach Jill Carpenter called it fitting the Spartans' game Friday against Ottawa at the Sycamore Park District ended in a 3-3 tie after nine innings.

But that's not to say she – or Ottawa coach Adam Lewis – agrees with the umpires' decision to call the game due to darkness.

"Coach (Lewis) and I were ready to go at least one more inning," Carpenter said. "It is what it is. You probably could have gotten one more in, I think, considering the innings are moving pretty quick for both sides. You hate to end in a tie."

After the Pirates (7-0-1 overall, 1-0-1 Northern Illinois Big 12 West) tied the game at 3-3 in the top of the sixth against the Spartans (7-2-1, 1-0-1), Ottawa starter Sloan Gayan and Sycamore starter Faith Reynolds settled into groves, with neither giving up another run.

In fact, only two runners reached second from the bottom of the sixth on.

"I think everyone here but the umpires think it could have gone one more inning," Lewis said with a big laugh. "There's all kinds of sayings for a tie, and let's leave it at that."

Sycamore broke through first off the Kentucky-bound Gayan in the third. Haley Trela reached on a single that went about five feet up the first-base line. Mindy Smits and Reynolds followed with walks, then a wild pitch scored Trela.

Ottawa got the run back in the top of the fifth on a home run to center field by Abi Claus.

Trela answered back in the bottom of the frame with her own blast to center with two outs, then Smith singled and came around to score on an error.

In the top of the sixth, two singles to start the inning by Lauren Carlson and Gayan were followed by a pair of errors, letting two runs score to tie the game.

"When we went up two, I felt like we had a really good shot," Carpenter said. "(Ottawa) put the ball in play, and it's hard to be perfect in this game. They made us pay a little bit by tying the game. But we had a lot of chances to score a couple more runs, but their pitcher did her job in getting her team out of the jam."

Reynolds allowed seven hits and struck out 10 while walking one. Gayan allowed six hits and struck out 13 with three walks. All three walks came in the first three innings. Trela was 2-for-4, scored twice and was the only player with a multi-hit game.

Reynolds doubled with two outs in the seventh, and Jenna Nink had a two-out double in the top of the inning. They were the only runners to get to second after Ottawa's outburst in the sixth.