Softball: AJ Pollnow’s clutch home run lifts Marengo past Sycamore

MARENGO – Marengo’s AJ Pollnow had the biggest cheering section of any player at Thursday’s nonconference game against Sycamore, with nine family members sitting behind home plate.

The Indians sophomore provided her biggest fans plenty of thrills, first making a tough catch on a line drive in left field to save a potential run in the top of the fourth inning.

But it was her at-bat in the bottom of the sixth that stole the show.

Pollnow drove the second pitch from Sycamore starting pitcher Addison Dierschow over the center-field fence for a two-run home run to break a tie after Brooklynn Snodgrass connected for a grand slam with two outs the inning before.

“I didn’t know it was gone until everyone started cheering.”

—  AJ Pollnow, Marengo sophomore

Marengo junior pitcher Lilly Kunzer retired the side in order in the top of the seventh, and the Indians knocked off the Spartans 6-4 in a battle of top-tier teams.

Going into her final at-bat, Pollnow said she was trying to hit the ball hard on the ground with speedy pinch-runner Maddy Christopher already on second base with one out.

“I was looking to hit the ball in the dirt to be honest,” said Pollnow, who had two runs scored and three RBIs. “I popped out my at-bat before and we had a lot of pop outs throughout the game. My coach told me to move in a certain position in the [batter’s] box, and I kept my hands in and drove through the ball.

“I didn’t know it was gone until everyone started cheering.”

Pollnow, who has four homers this spring, has played catcher for most of her softball career. But that position was already filled, so Pollnow had to learn a new position in the outfield. Pollnow said Christopher, a standout center fielder who will play next year at Morehead State, helped teach her a few tricks.

Assistant coach Rob Jasinski has been impressed by Pollnow’s ability to learn a new position and excel there.

“She’s just an amazing kid,” Jasinski said. “She’s been a catcher a long time, and I’ve been the catching coach here for a long time, so I helped develop her over the years. It kind of stung for her, but she worked really hard in the offseason and she’s done a great job out there for never playing in the outfield.

“Offensively this year, she has really learned how to smack the ball.”

Marengo scored four runs on four hits in the bottom of the second to take a 4-0 lead, getting an RBI double by Mia Lulinski and an RBI groundout by Pollnow. The Indians (25-3) added two more runs on a pair of errors and a passed ball.

Sycamore (19-8) left five runners on base through the first four innings and was in danger of leaving three on in the fifth. With two outs, Snodgrass blasted a game-tying home run that got just over the center-field fence.

Snodgrass had strikeouts in her first two at-bats against Kunzer, who allowed four runs on five hits with four walks and five strikeouts.

“I just kind of went in with the mentality of get a hit,” she said. “The first time I struck out looking, there were some runners on, and it was not what I should have done in that situation. I think the team really needed that hit.

“I think we hit the ball great all day, it just happened to be right at [Marengo’s] gloves.”

Marengo committed one error but made a handful of tough plays throughout the game, including a leaping catch at second base from Gabby Gieseke in the sixth to rob a lead-off hit from Kaitlyn Williams.

“We took some tough pitches and worked a few walks, but we had a lot of kids throughout the lineup that had hard hits where they smoked them and [Marengo] made the play,” Spartans coach Jill Carpenter said. “That’s stiill encouraging for us as an offense.”

Gieseke was 2 for 4 for Marengo, Lulinski was 2 for 3 with one RBI, and Marissa Young had two hits and a run scored.

For Sycamore, Tia Durst had two hits and Williams had a double.

Marengo goes to Ottawa on Friday and has a doubleheader at Lakes on Saturday before the start of the Class 2A playoffs.

“This team is very close to each other,” Pollnow said. “We just need to pick each other up and see how far we can go.”