ROSCOE — Nearly everyone, Hononegah head coach Denny McKinney included, expected a tight, hotly-contested game between his Indians and their perennial rivals from Harlem on Friday afternoon.
For four innings, it was.
Then McKinney’s Indians put up eight runs in the fifth inning and ended the game abruptly at breezy Swanson Park by the 10-run rule, 12-2.
“It was a nice win, but that wasn’t a 10-run kind of game,” McKinney said. “Even though it ended up that way.”
Hononegah improved to 11-1 overall, 5-0 in NIC-10 play, posting its 10th straight win and seventh by shutout.
Playing in a conference with a number of noncompetitive teams, facing a quality opponent in Harlem is a treat.
“I wish every game we had was against a team like Harlem,” McKinney said. “You might end up with some losses, but you’d be a better team by the end of the season because of it.”
Going in, there were plenty of reasons for thinking Friday might be Harlem’s day. McKinney’s defending NIC-10 champions were hit hard by graduation, losing four all-conference players.
He has three freshmen and two sophomores in his starting lineup against a team with a duo in Alaina Schwanke and Aubrey Burbach that heads the list of a Rockford newspaper’s top pitcher-catcher combinations in the region.
Absent from that list were Hononegah’s Aislynn Palmer and Danielle Franz which clearly indicates the author needs to occasionally attend a softball game in the area. Just a sophomore, Palmer is a returning All-NIC-10 First-Teamer and Franz has been there three times.
While Schwanke and Burbach are exceptional players in their own right, Palmer and Franz won both showdowns last year and Friday was no different.
Coming off a no-hitter in her previous game, Palmer allowed Harlem five hits and two runs in four innings, walking two and striking out five. For the season, she has allowed just four earned runs in 26 2-3 innings for a 1.05 ERA. She has walked six and struck out 50. Opponents are hitting .156.
Lindenwood University commit Franz hit a double, knocked in her team-leading 12th run and turned in a nifty tag at home when Harlem tried to score on a pop-fly caught by freshman second baseman Kaelyn Kelly in the second inning.
Kelly led Hononegah with three hits in four trips, scored a run and knocked in three. Freshmen teammates Irelyn O’Brien (2-for-4) and Mackenzie Haas (2-for-2) combined to score four runs and drive in two more.
“How about those freshmen?” McKinney said. “The pressure of playing against a big rival didn’t bother them at all. We told them to enjoy the moment and they did.”
Hononegah struck first in the second. Haas singled and sophomore Addison Hulburt was hit in the helmet by a pitch. Kelly doubled to center and both Haas and pinch-runner Gillian Midgett scored.
The Indians’ only other senior, Natalie Kinney, singled in the third inning and moved to third on a base hit by O’Brien. She scored on Peyton Klikno’s groundout. Haas followed with a two-out RBI single for a 4-0 lead.
Harlem (7-6, 4-2) cut the lead in half in the fourth inning and after Palmer walked the leadoff batter in the fifth, McKinney summoned O’Brien in from right to take over on the rubber.
Schwanke hit the ball sharply, but directly to shortstop Mali McMaster, who stepped on second and threw to first for a DP.
The Indians batted around in the fifth. After O’Brien reached on an error and Klikno singled, Harlem switched pitchers with Rylie Adams replacing Schwanke. Haas moved the runners along with a bunt and Hulburt and Kelly hit consecutive RBI singles.
Zoey Calhoun walked to load the bases and Palmer’s hard-shot went off the shortstop for an error, scoring two more runs. Franz then doubled to left to bring two more home. RBI singles by O’Brien and Klikno made it a 10-run cushion and ended it.
HONONEGAH 12, HARLEM 2
Harlem 000 20 — 2 6 3
Hononegah 022 08 — 12 13 1
Leading hitters: Har, Schwanke 1x3; Segalia 2x3; Adams 1x3; Knutson 1x1; Henderson 1x1, 1 rbi. Hon, Kelly 3x4, 1 run, 3 rbi; Palmer 1x4, 1 run, 2 rbi; Franz 1x3, 2 rbi; Kinney 1x4, 1 run; O’Brien 2x4, 3 runs, 1 rbi; Klikno 2x4, 1 run, 2 rbi; Haas 2x2, 1 run, 1 rbi; Hulburt 1x2, 1 run, 1 rbi. 2B: Adams, Palmer, Franz, Kelly.
Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): Har, Schwanke (L) 4.0-8-6-5-1-3; Adams 0.2-5-6-2-1-0. Hon, Palmer (W) 4.0-5-2-2-2-5; O’Brien 1.0-1-0-0-0-0.
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