Marquette survives wild sixth inning to top Grant Park, claim Class 1A regional title

GRANT PARK – In the top of the sixth inning of their Class 1A Grant Park Regional championship game Friday against the host Dragons, the Marquette Crusaders gave away the narrow lead they’d held all evening long.

In the bottom half, they took it right back.

Punctuated by Kelsey Cuchra’s soft-hit, two-out double that drove home Lily Brewer with the winning run, Marquette replied to Grant Park’s error-sparked four-run sixth with an error-sparked three-run sixth of their own to retake the advantage.

Kesley’s older sister, Taylor Cuchra, then worked a perfect seventh to close out a 5-4 victory and a sixth 1A regional title over the past 10 seasons for Marquette.

“Yes, that [sixth] inning was crazy at first,” Kesley Cuchra said, “but as a team we worked together, and it worked out. Through the whole lineup, we had great hits at key moments that helped us through and came out on top as a team.”

Marquette has now captured a regional championships in every odd-numbered year – and only in the odd-numbered years – going back to 2015.

This one took some perseverance and grit.

“Very resilient,” first-year Crusaders head coach Curtiss Johnson said of his team. “I’m just proud of these girls, They battled ‘til the end of the game. Every out matters, and they worked, they stayed together, they did not get discouraged.

“They did what had to be done, and they took care of business.”

Marquette (27-6) advances on to the 1A Serena Sectional, opening Wednesday against Elgin St. Edward. Little Ten Conference rivals Newark and Serena will meet in Tuesday’s first semifinal.

Grant Park (14-11) – despite displaying its own sticktoitiveness and getting a scrappy pitching performance from Division-I Wagner University commit Cheyenne Hayes (6 IP, 5 R, 1 ER, 11 H, 2 BB, 3 K) – sees its season come to a close.

“It went back and forth there,” Grant Park coach Bob Crivokapich said, “and I was really hoping we could shut it down there at the end. But you know, these girls played their hearts out, and they had a great regional too. ...

“We had a great year, I’m proud of every one of them, and I’m trying not to let them leave with their heads down.”

The Crusaders grabbed the lead in the bottom of the second inning with the first of their four unearned runs against Hayes. Kealey Rick singled and later scored on an errant throw trying to cut her down at third. Marquette added another in the fifth to go up 2-0, Brewer doubling before scoring on the first of Kesley Cuhra’s two RBI hits.

Then came the sixth.

Two of the Dragons’ first three batters reached on Marquette fielding errors, opening the door for Grant Park to finally break through against the elder Cuchra (7 IP, 4 R, 0 ER, 4 H, 3 BB, 7 K). They did – four times, in fact – on a Claire Sluis RBI groundout, Abby Garcia’s run-scoring, Texas-league single and an Adelyn Karstensen softly hit, two-run single to right-center field that suddenly, shockingly put the hosts ahead 4-2.

It didn’t last long, with Grant Park returning the favor by allowing Marquette to start off its half of the inning with a free baserunner due to an error. That baserunner, Makayla Backos, stole second and scored on a Rick RBI single, Rick was bunted to second by Savannah Erickson and scored the tying run on a Brewer RBI single, and then Brewer came home with two away on Kelsey Cuchra’s aforementioned game-winning bloop to left.

“I knew the pitch was going to be a strike,” Kesley Cuchra said. “It wasn’t exactly the one I wanted, but I knew I could make contact on it, and we needed a hit in that moment. ...

“When I hit it, oh, I was terrified. I didn’t know if it would drop in.”

Rick (one RBI, two runs scored) and Kelsey Cuchra (two RBIs) each finished with three hits to lead the Marquette attack. Brewer (RBI, two runs scored) and leadoff batter Hunter Hopkins added two hits apiece.

For Grant Park, Garcia finished with two hits and an RBI, Karstensen with one hit and two RBIs, and cleanup hitter Lola Malkowski drew walks in each of her three at-bats.