That's what Youngsville head coach Mark Nyquist was looking for.
It's been a while since a Youngsville softball team beat Northwestern, but the playoff-bound Lady Eagles won, 3-1, on Monday at Youngsville High School.
"This is what they're capable of playing like," said Nyquist, whose Eagles are 9-8 overall and 8-8 in Region 4. "We played like a playoff team today."
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Times Observer photo by Jon Sitler
Tripled up
Youngsville’s Amber Fox rounds second during a fifth-inning triple against Northwestern on Monday at Youngsville High School. Fox was also the winning pitcher in the Eagles’ 3-1 region win over Northwestern.
The Eagles have clinched the top Class A spot in the region to automatically qualify for the District 10 playoffs, but Nyquist wanted the Eagles to play well against a tough Class AA team.
"I knew if we played errorless ball, we would compete with them, and we had one error," he said.
"Amber (Fox) basically carved their bats off in their hands," Nyquist said.
Fox finished with 12 strikeouts over seven innings, but was helped by a couple key defensive plays late. One wasn't noticed as much as the other, because it was on a Northwestern triple. But Judi Lewis tracked down a shot over her head in left and hit the cutoff man to hold the runner at third in the top of the sixth. Rightfielder Julia Sveda ended the frame with a lunging catch off a line drive.
In the top of the seventh, catcher Colleen Rex gunned down a Northwestern runner at second, with a nice block of the bag by shortstop Kennedy Cratty.
If the senior pitcher didn't do enough in the circle, she was also responsible for all three runs for Youngsville.
Fox gave the Eagles a 2-0 lead in the third with a double, and had a triple in the fifth. She ended up scoring the third run on a wild pitch.
She allowed two hits over the first five innings, and allowed just four for the game. She walked three batters.
Youngsville has another test when it travels to General McLane on Tuesday.
NORTHWESTERN (1): Taylor ss 3-0-0-0, Alward cf 3-1-1-0, Shaffer 1b 3-0-0-0, Miniaci dp 2-0-0-0, Isicula p 3-0-1-1, Campbell c 3-0-1-0, Potter 3b 2-0-0-0, Al. Griffey ph 0-0-0-0, Biby rf 2-0-1-0, Ad. Griffey 2b 2-0-0-0, Askin lf 0-0-0-0. Totals 23-1-4-1.
YOUNGSVILLE (3): Rex C 2-0-1-0, Ke. Cratty ss 3-1-1-0, Fox p 3-1-2-2, Lewis lf 3-0-0-0, Gustafson 3b 2-0-0-0, S. Anderson dp 2-0-0-0, Dunn 1b 2-0-0-0, Sveda rf 3-0-0-0, Jameson cf 3-0-1-0, Ka. Cratty 2b 0-0-0-0. Totals 23-3-5-2.
Northwestern 000 001 0 - 1 4 0
Youngsville 002 010 x - 3 5 1
2b-Fox (Y). 3b-Fox (Y), Isicula (N). WP-Fox. LP-Isicula.