Lake Central senior Olivia Balog will take any victory against Crown Point.
A pitchers’ duel, which is typically the case.
Or an unusually high-scoring game, which the Duneland Athletic Conference rivals experienced Friday.
“It’s our biggest competition — it’s always been,” Balog said. “But we had the right mindset for it. We were ready for this game.”
Balog, a St. Xavier recruit, snapped a 10-10 tie with a run-scoring single in the sixth inning as Lake Central pulled out a 19-11 win on the road.
“There’s nerves when you see those big numbers go up,” she said. “But we trust our team, we trust our hitting, we trust our fielding. It wasn’t that scary.”
Balog also earned the win for Lake Central (7-0, 4-0), which is ranked No. 2 in the Class 4A state coaches poll. She pitched four innings in relief of senior Amanda Aardema as the Indians outlasted No. 13 Crown Point (5-2, 3-1).
“Olivia Balog did a great job coming in in relief in the circle. … We knew coming in we probably were going to go with a multiple-arm attack,” Lake Central coach Jeff Sherman said. “We got some good innings.”
This game had been scheduled for Wednesday but was postponed due to the weather. The Bulldogs also played their originally scheduled game Friday against Penn.
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“I’m proud of them for sticking in that game (against Lake Central),” Crown Point coach Angie Richwalski said. “It was a long and exhausting game.
“We did better than I thought we would offensively. We put up a ton of runs — that has to be the most runs they’ve seen this year. I’m proud of my hitters. On the defensive side, we had a rough day. But I’m super proud of them.”
Lake Central led 3-0 after a half-inning and 6-1 going into the bottom of the second. But Crown Point grabbed a 7-6 lead in the fourth, and the score was tied 10-10 before the Indians scored six in the sixth, sending 11 batters to the plate and collecting five hits.
“Our kids gave a lot of fight,” Sherman said. “After having an early lead and then getting down, you saw a lot of fight from our kids, especially at the plate.
“I don’t even know what to say. I’m not even sure. I asked Angie in the about the fifth inning if there’s ever been a Crown Point-Lake Central game quite like this. And she just laughed at me. She was a player for LC and now as a coach, she’s been involved in a lot of them. This was kind of crazy.”
In addition to Balog’s run-scoring single in the sixth, Lake Central sophomore center fielder Jolie Adams had a two-run single, Aardema had an RBI single and senior right fielder Kiley Conner capped the inning with a two-run single.
Aardema added a two-run single during a three-run seventh against Crown Point senior starter Brinkley Kita, a Lipscomb recruit.
Lake Central didn’t record its first hit until junior designated player Tori Olson singled up the middle to start the fifth.
“We did a really good job of not chasing, being patient, and when Brinkley made a mistake or two, we were able to do something good to our advantage,” Sherman said.
Junior shortstop Emily Phillips hit two home runs for Crown Point — one to lead of the first and a three-run shot that tied the score at 10-10 in the fifth — and drew three walks, including one to force in a run.
Crown Point sophomore third baseman Lexi Howard had three hits, including a solo homer in the sixth. Sophomore designated player Kacey Sterkowitz also had three hits, including two doubles.
Kita, who had two hits, issued 18 walks and threw 12 wild pitches.
“She’s working through,” Richwalski said. “She’s never had to work through before. We’ve always had the four other pitches, let somebody take over. And she missed sophomore year (due to the coronavirus pandemic). It’s kind of growing pains that everybody goes through. She’s just going through them now.”