By Ed Muniz- Photos by Jenn-Anne Gledhill
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Oak Brook─ Looking to get back to their winning ways after being shocked the previous night, the Illinois-Lisle 12U Wolves visited the Downers Grove Fury in a second consecutive night of WSBL action.
The Wolves would try to shake off the bitter taste of defeat just 24-hours earlier and play their usual style that has garnished them 22 wins to just 5 defeats on the season.
To do so, the Wolves would have to do it with dramatic changes to their batting line-up.
Coach Brandin Muniz juggled his lineup in an effort to produce more hits and runs that plagued them the previous two games.
After a dismal showing against a very average opponent the night before, the hope was that the change in the lineup would spur on those who had struggled, and would now elevate their game. It was a point that did not go unnoticed.
With limited success, the new lineup worked for some and for others it didn’t.
The Wolves struggled and fell behind 7-0 after an inning and 10-2 after two innings, but eventually, with help from errors, timely hitting and free passes, the Wolves overtook the Fury and won 19-16 but it was an ugly game as the funk that plagued them hung around.
“I feel like we’re just playing down to our competition,” said Brian Grogan. “We need to come out, score several runs and keep piling on and show we are a very good team and slaughter them. We need to focus on hitting and work on our aggressiveness in our upcoming practice.”
“I think we take too many pitches and strikes. I try to stay positive with the team. Some guys get down, I remind them there are a lot more chances for us.”
Coming into this game, the Wolves were heavy favorite as the Fury had struggled all season.
Taking the ball for the Wolves was Gavin Smith. Smith had thrown some this year but not nearly as much as other pitchers. Walks were his difficulty, as a result, those he walked ended up scoring.
The Fury scored 7-runs on three hits after the Wolves went one, two, three to open the game.
Tyler Sokolnicki led off the second inning with a solo shot over the right-field fence to get the Wolves on the board. A single by Grogan led to another run after he reached third on steals and was balked in for the Wolves second run to trail 7-2.
In the Inning, the Wolves struck out three times, twice looking.
Quinn Robinson was called on to relieve Smith. He proceeded to strike out the side, but the Fury did leave the bases loaded.
The Wolves left a runner at third in their third at-bat. The clutch hitting they had earlier in the season was now hard to come by.
When the Fury plated three more runs in their third inning, helped by a fielding error, two hits and a pair of walks, the Fury looked as if the Wolves may be the Cherry win of their season now ahead 10-2.
The inning ended with an Eamon Muldoon to Sinkovich to Slazak double play.
The double play ignited the Wolves in their last four innings. They proceeded to go on and score 17 runs over that span.
Beginning in the fourth inning, the walks that had plagued the Wolves were now infecting the hosts. A lead off walk to Griff Sinkovich turned into a run when Quinn Robinson belted his fourth homerun of the season to score two.
“I just wanted to get a hit right there at that time and turned out to be a homerun,” said Robinson. “It was an outside fastball that I went dead center on. I do look for fastballs to hit. I was just looking forward to my next at bat, I wasn’t looking or thinking of the score.”
“I didn’t think I was going to pitch today so I wasn’t expecting it, I don’t think I was ready. I did what I could and get through it.”
A walk to Sokolnicki followed by a single by Smith lead to two more runs for the Wolves when both scored after a single by Christian Slazak and a walk to Auggie Ruffolo, closing the Fury lead to 10-6.
The Fury extended their lead to 11-6 in their half of the fourth after scoring a run off Robinson, who was then relieved by Grogan to close out the fourth inning.
Sinkovich again led off the fifth inning with a single. An error saw Robinson reach first base. Both would later score and add two more runs on a single by Sokolnicki, adding to the Wolves tally which now saw them trailing 11-8 after their fifth at-bat.
The Fury weren’t making it easy for the Wolves as they continued to take advantage of Wolves errors scoring another run every time the Wolves faltered. The 12-8 lead stood headed to the Sixth.
Two walks to Graham Johnson and Slazak started the Wolves Sixth. A single by Ruffolo brought home Johnson. After a pop-out to shortstop, Muldoon walked to load the bases.
A fielder’s choice by Sinkovich plated another Wolves run and that was followed by a single by Robinson that scored Ruffolo, the Wolves third run of the inning, cutting the lead down to 12-11. Again, the Wolves stranded runners at first and third after a strike out looking ended the inning.
Grogan shut down the Fury in order in his third inning of work, that now set up the Wolves heading into their final at-bats, trailing by a run.
The Wolves waited till the last inning but overtook the Fury after trailing all game. The Wolves sent 12 batters to the plate and scored 8-runs on 3 hits as walks and errors caught up to the host.
Taking a 19-12 lead, the game looked well in hand but again, the Fury didn’t let the Wolves off that easy. They forced the Wolves to use two additional pitcher enroute to scoring 4 runs before the final out was secured on a grounder to Muldoon to Slazak for the Wolves 19-16 win.
The Wolves looked a tired bunch and welcomed a week off as they head next to Pleasant Prairie Wisconsin for their fourth tournament of the season, hopefully well rested.
