Ryenne Sinta, Oswego East rally from 6 runs down, walk off Plainfield North in 8 innings

OSWEGO – Ryenne Sinta and Oswego East’s season, like their game Thursday, started a little rocky.

So they got Stevie.

“Stevie” is a pink stuffed baseball monkey, a souvenir given to the Oswego East player who puts in the work during the game. The Wolves, ever the quirky, fun-loving group, also picked up a rally lamp shade to pass around during games.

Their coach even went on Amazon to buy inflatable hobby horses as good luck charms.

“We went to Goodwill and we said let’s find something fun here, and we ended up getting a baseball monkey, Stevie,” Sinta said. “Since the ‘Minecraft’ movie came out, we felt Stevie was a good option for a name. It was more of a group effort.”

Same for Thursday, a rally filled with heroes.

Sinta, however, took the cake – and Stevie. The senior catcher doubled in Danielle Stone with one out in the bottom of the eighth inning, and Oswego East rallied from six runs down to beat Plainfield North 10-9 in a Southwest Prairie Conference thriller.

Sinta flung her helmet in the air as she reached second base and was mobbed by teammates. And then carried Stevie back to the dugout.

“Lot of emotion, happy emotions,” Sinta said. “Went up there and needed to swing the bat. Had to get my runner in and win a game.”

A whirlwind of a game for the Wolves (4-6, 1-1) and coach Sarah Davies, whose team trailed 7-1 in the third inning and never led until the final at-bat.

“That’s the stuff you live for,” Davies said. “We stayed in there, and didn’t give up.”

Stone, one of five sophomores on the Wolves, homered and doubled her first two at-bats, and the second baseman made a sensational over-the-shoulder grab in short right field.

And then she singled to start the winning rally.

“My coach always says pressure is a privilege said,” Stone said. “That’s what I take in those high-intensity situations.”

Sinta, already with two hits and a sacrifice fly, came up one out later. That put Davies in a good place.

“Third year on varsity, that’s who I want in that situation, and it’s kind of been her MO since sophomore year,” Davies said. “Senior night that year we were in extras and she had a bases-clearing double against Plainfield East to win in nine innings.”

One of Davies’ other current youngsters came through in Thursday’s game to force extras.

With two outs in the bottom of the seventh and Nora Evans on first, sophomore Katie Silva hit a booming double to left-center to bring in the tying run.

“I was just thinking to keep it simple,” Silva said. “That was our last chance.”

And a big chance it was for No. 9 hitter Silva, who had singles in her previous two at-bats.

“She needed that, too,” Davies said. “She’s been trying to figure out how to adjust to the varsity level. I think that day was today for her. She was their power hitter on JV last year, batted middle of the lineup.”

Plainfield North (3-11, 0-2) has kids who can play, too, such as Bella Nuccio – one of three Tigers freshmen. Nuccio singled and scored in the second inning and doubled in a run in the Tigers’ four-run third. Makayla Conrad, another freshman, doubled and scored her team’s first run.

But the Tigers were shut out the last three innings.

“We just have to find a way to not get complacent, to keep our foot on the gas,” Tigers coach Julie Ann Czerniakowski said.

Plainfield North used four pitchers, allowing 10 or more runs for the fifth time this season.

“We have to get better, buckle down as pitchers,” Czerniakowski said. “We get ahead in the count, we can’t give them anything too good.”

Stone and Sinta had doubles in Oswego East’s four-run third, and the Wolves scored single runs in the fourth and sixth to chip away in a game in which their own pitchers walked nine.

Olivia Owles, Kylie Mannis and Lundin Cornelius each had two hits.

“It’s really surreal, but you can never give up hope,” Stone said. “We just had to stick with it, keep the energy up. That’s how we came back.”