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SYCAMORE – Sophomore Thea Boubin picked a big spot for her first varsity home run, a three-run shot to put the Spartans ahead for good in the third inning Monday.
Boubin and the Spartans busted out the big bats in their first game this season at their school to take down Interstate 8 Conference foe Morris, 11-6.
“This is the first day we got to play on this field all season,” Sycamore coach Jill Carpenter said. “It’s kind of a nice way to christen the swamp on our first day out here. The bats showed up today. This is a really good hitting team.”
Boubin, hitting in the nine hole, came up to bat with catcher Emily Puentes and center fielder Addison McLaughlin on base. Boubin cranked a no-doubter to left-center field, putting the Spartans ahead 7-4.
“That was the best feeling ever,” Boubin said. “It was my first varsity home run, so I was excited about that. Everybody cheering for me made me feel very good.”
Boubin went 2 for 4 with three RBIs and two runs scored.
On the next pitch, shortstop Tia Durst smacked another shot over the fence to cap the five-run rally.
“Not bad out of [the] nine [hitter] and [the] one (hitter),” Carpenter said.
Brooklynn Snodgrass scored earlier in the inning on a McLaughlin hit.
The rally came just after Morris had put up four runs to take the short-lived lead.
Morris (10-5-1, 2-1 I-8) took advantage of Sycamore miscues for its rally. Alana Beshoar and Addison Stacy scored for Morris on a fielding error by left fielder Jalyna Polichnowski for the first runs of the inning.
Morris pitcher Ella Davis helped her own cause, knocking in Jaelyn Wiers and then scoring two batters later on a Grace Lines dribbler.
Polichnowski made up for her mistake the next inning, but it came at a cost. She collided with a teammate on a pop-up in foul territory while running full speed. The collision knocked her from the game, but she held on to the ball to secure the out.
“I know she wanted to redeem herself from the other ball that I know she could have caught,” Carpenter said. “Hopefully she’ll be OK and she’s just banged up a little. Anytime when you know it’s going to be really dicey, I always call those brave plays where you’re willing to lay it on the line for your team. She made a heck of a play for us.”
In the bottom of the fourth inning, Snodgrass added to the lead with another solo shot for the Spartans (2-3, 1-1), putting them up 10-6.
Sycamore pitcher Addison Dierschow picked up the victory, allowing only two earned runs in the complete-game outing.
The Spartans scored in every inning except for one. Sycamore scored one run in the first as Chelsea Born hit a sacrifice fly to score Paige Collie.
The Spartans scored two runs in the second as McLaughlin and Boubin scored on errors.
Sycamore added another insurance run in the sixth as McLaughlin knocked in Haley Von Schnase, who replaced Polichnowski after her injury.
“We’ll do what we always do and go back to the grind,” Morris coach Jennifer Bamonte said. “This is the first game where we’ve had mistakes like this happen to us. I think that they’re good enough to be able to adjust for next time.”
Both defenses had uneven games, committing three errors each that led to runs for the other team.
The Spartans switched between errors and great defensive plays all game. In the final inning, Brooklyn Snodgrass flubbed a ball to put a runner on base, but she made a diving stab on a liner and doubled off the runner she had allowed on base.