ROCKFORD – Belvidere North was on a roll as this year’s American Legion baseball schedule came to an end, having won seven consecutive games to finish with a 10-5 record.
The string of victories included a couple of last-minute wins, over Guilford and then over Rockford East. While his team had some nail-biters over the summer head coach Kim Bicksler, referring to the East game, observed, "Not like that."
North took a 6-0 lead after two innings of play and was comfortably ahead, 9-3, when the E-Rabs made a statement by continually nibbling at the deficit and finally rallying with four runs in the bottom of the sixth to take edge ahead, 10-9.
Not to worry, though. The confident Blue Thunder, down to their last out with nobody on base, came back with two runs to regain the 11-10 lead. Here’s how it unfolded:
Kellen O’Malley started the comeback with a sharp single to left. Nate Clanin singled and both moved up a base on a passed ball. Cody Leitner’s infield single, to deep short, brought in O’Malley and Clanin scored when the second baseman dropped Charlie Hunt’s popup.
O’Malley then went to the mound where he pitched a perfect inning of relief, retiring three batters in succession, to preserve the victory.
Leadoff man Scott Loy got the game off to a good start for North when he was safe on an error. Sam doubled to left, bringing in Loy with the first run. An RBI single by Kurt Siemsen, an error on Andy Boatman’s grounder and a sacrifice fly from Leitner for his first RBI of the game made it 4-0.
Siemsen had an RBI triple in the second and he later scored on a throwing error to make it 6-0, Blue Thunder.
East came back with three runs in the bottom of the third, but North got them back in the top of the fourth. Walks to Leitner and Loy, followed by Kemp’s two-run double to left made it 8-3. Kemp then scored on a wild pitch for the ninth run.
The E-Rabs scored at least once in the next three innings to lead for the first time that afternoon, 10-9. But the Blue Thunder countered with their two-out rally in the top of the seventh for the victory.
It was the second last-minute win in as many days for North, who edged Guilford, 4-3, on Gregg Adkins’ game-winning hit in the ninth inning. Boatman pitched eight innings with relief help from O’Malley.
Overall, it was an enjoyable summer season for the Blue Thunder, who Coach Bicksler said featured good pitching and defense, along with timely hitting.
"Some of the younger kids have stepped up and are hitting the ball," he said of the latter stages of the season. "Gregg has pitched a lot and is an asset to the staff. They never quit; that’s one thing about this team."
Adkins threw 5 1/3 innings against, East before O’Malley came on in the sixth.
