Hononegah threw a counter-punch to Belvidere North’s knockout late last year.
Sparked by Irelyn O’Brien on the mound and at the plate, Hononegah (21-6, 15-1 NIC-10) scratched out a 2-0 win over North on Monday night to take command in the NIC-10 race with just one week left in regular season. North (16-7, 14-2), which won the conference championship on a late-season win over Hononegah last year, also fell to Hononegah 3-2 on April 20 this season, then won 10 games in a row between losses to its rivals.
On May 11, O’Brien made sure Hononegah wasn’t going to let it slip away this year.
“Now it’s ours to lose,” Hononegah head coach Dennis McKinney said after his team took a one-game lead in the conference-title race. “Irelyn just did a great job, and this was just a great team win all the way around.”
O’Brien gave up a double to Miley Dobbs, the second batter of the game, and then she walked opposing pitcher Ava Morris in the next at-bat. But she sure settled down from there ― in a big way.
“She really took control,” McKinney said after O’Brien retired 15 batters in a row after that slow start. “We think we went out and made a statement again today as far as the conference goes.”
She surrendered just two more hits, and had no more walks, the rest of the night.
And O’Brien helped herself out at the plate as well, just enough, with a single to left before scoring on Addison Hulbert’s sac fly in the fourth. Megan Kelly smacked an RBI-single to right-centerfield in the fifth for an insurance run.
Blue Thunder ace Morris had a strong game of her own, giving up just three hits and one walk ― to the leadoff batter of the game.
But O’Brien was really on her game.
“My screwball and my rise-ball were really good tonight. I got a lot of girls on those,” O’Brien said. “This win is really going to give us a lot of motivation now for these last few games, and for the postseason.”
Hononegah lost to North late in the regular season last year to hand over the conference title. But it didn’t happen this time around. Hononegah won four in a row before North took it away last year. Now it can take it back if it beats Harlem (19-7, 12-3) at home at 5 p.m. Wednesday. Hononegah beat Harlem 2-0 on April 22.
Then the postseason kicks in for all the teams next Monday.
Jay Taft is a Rockford Register Star sports reporter. Email him at jtaft@rrstar.com and sign up for the Rockford High School Sports Newsletter here at rrstar.com. Jay has covered a variety of sports, from the Chicago Bears and Blackhawks to local youth sports, since the turn of the century at the Register Star.
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Irelyn O’Brien’s gem puts Hononegah in NIC-10 softball driver’s seat
Reporting by Jay Taft, Rockford Register Star / Rockford Register Star
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