North side stunner

PLAINFIELD -- As far as senior moments go, Plainfield North High School outfielder Bridget Glasgow broke out like a brick flying through glass Thursday afternoon, finding her glow from the right side of the batter's box.

Normally a left-handed slapper, Glasgow gained the permission of Tigers coach George Sam to pull the leadoff-hitting switcheroo in her final home game, and the North Side's lone senior punctuated her fourth and fifth at-bats with opposite-field liners.

It was her day.

It was her time.

It was her impulse.

"I always enjoyed doing that, but I make a lot of contact lefty, so I do that for the team," Glasgow said. "I've been asking him to do righty and since it's the last game, our last home game, I've always been right-handed and I wanted to rip it. I went up there wanting to rip it to show him I can do it."

Trailing Morris 3-0 after 3 innings and 4-3 entering the bottom of the seventh, the Plainfield North softball team showed can-do determination behind Glasgow. She singled and scored the tying run and then singled home the winner in the eighth, rallying the Tigers to a thrilling 5-4 Southwest Prairie Conference victory.

On an overcast, cold, windy and gloomy Senior Night, Glasgow led Plainfield North (12-15, 7-7) to a tie for fourth in the SPC, finishing 2-for-4 with a walk. Sophomore catcher Trisha Russo singled twice, walked and produced a pair of RBIs, while junior outfielder Takeya Green singled twice and also scored the winning run.

Hitting the ball hard with every swing, sophomore DH Kelsey Schluntz paced Morris (14-13, 7-7) at 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI. Sophomore second baseman Hilary Bunting added 2 hits and an RBI and junior outfielder Stef Noethe singled, walked twice and scored 2 runs, the latter leaving the Redskins ahead 4-3.

However, on an 0-2 count with the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth, Glasgow laced a one-out single to right that obliterated the 4-4 deadlock, plating Green with the walkoff run and saluting a girl whose name and number -- BRIDGET #2 -- was spelled out in large, white lettering on the apropos right-field fence.

It was her spot.

It was her position.

It was her authorization.

"You couldn't write a script better than that," Sam said. "You're a senior, it's your last home game, and it all clicked up there for her. She's our leadoff, our slap hitter, but I told her, 'Go ahead, turn around and do it.' She stepped up, and that's what having seniors is all about. She did what you expect a senior would be able to do."

"That was huge," said Russo, who bounced a 2-RBI single to center in the sixth to force the 3-3 tie. "It's like a disease. After one person gets it, it just passes on and everyone gets it. We all did our part, and Bridget's an amazing leader. I'm so amazed that she pulled through the whole year and she's such an inspiration."

Turning Glasgow into a switch hitter proved to be inspirational, particularly to begin the seventh. She grooved a single to right-center, advancing to second on an error. When the Redskins misplayed the subsequent sacrifice bunt, Glasgow motored in for the 4-4 tie, creating extra innings.

"She came up in a couple of situations where a slap might not have benefitted us anyway," Sam said of Glasgow. "We put it to them in the sixth, 'How bad do

want it?' They stepped up to the challenge, especially Bridget."

Through 5 innings, the Tigers' biggest challenge was solving Morris ace Angie McVey (10-11). The senior right-hander registered 5 of her 6 strikeouts in the first 4 innings and owned a 1-hitter heading into the sixth before North exploded for 5 runs on 8 hits -- helped by 4 errors.

"Our defense really let us down," Morris coach Amy Barr said. "We were cruising along and had no errors and then we decide to make (four) in the last few innings. We just didn't close it out. I thought Angie pitched well, but they got the momentum at the end and they kept it."

"We've been having a lot of trouble talking on the field, not communicating enough," Schluntz said. "And when we get ahead, we tend to sit back on things and not extend our lead."

That lead stood at 2-0 in the top of the second inning as McVey coaxed the first of her 2 walks, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by freshman shortstop Layne Miller and scored on Schluntz's double to left-center. Schluntz later scored on wild pitch. Noethe walked and scored in the third on Bunting's RBI single up the middle.

It was boom, boom, boom.

"I've just been focusing on keeping my eyes on the ball and making sure I see the ball all the way through," Schluntz said. "I look to put the bat on the ball."

"We were playing very good, fundamental softball," Barr said. "We were moving runners over, hitting behind runners, getting them in, and then we stopped doing that around the fourth or fifth inning. It's disappointing."

The Redskins' disappointment developed into Plainfield North's excitement during the sixth. Junior third baseman Lianna Campos, who would walk and sacrifice, led off with a single to center and sophomore outfielder Caitlyn Anderson reached on an error. McVey plunked junior shortstop Hannah Berris, loading the bases.

Following a wild pitch that scored junior pinch-runner BreAnna McGuire, Russo's 2-RBI grounder capped the comeback for a 3-3 tie, setting the table for Glasgow in the next 2 innings.

"I knew our team could do it," Russo said. "We pull together amazingly and we have great chemistry on this team. We all like to have a good time, and once we're out there on the field, we know what we have to do."

"It's like I told the girls, 'In two years here, that's probably one of the greatest games we've played,'" Sam said. "It was the same kind of day that we played them a year ago. They came here and we beat them 1-0 in eight innings, and it was the same kind of cold, dreary day -- except it was April that time and it feels like March."

From there, North marched to the winning beat because of Glasgow's back-to-back singles, which sounded like the theme of a famous Mazda commercial.

It was zoom, zoom, zoom.

"Being that it's Senior Night, I knew we needed to get those runs in fast," Glasgow said. "The motivation of our team was insane, everybody was up there wanting to get it in, and it was awesome. I'm not really picky when I'm up there. I go for my best swing, and it was exciting."

Comment on this story.

www.heraldnewsonline.com