LANSING | When T.F. South senior Callie Beck misjudged an outfield liner in the sixth inning — which allowed Illiana Christian to take the lead — she privately vowed Saturday night to find a way to redeem herself.
Beck singled in the bottom of the seventh, then scored from third on a wild pitch — that also plated teammate Jessica Maricich — to cap the Rebels' 5-4 come-from-behind win at Lansing Sports Complex.
"Once I saw that ball get past (the catcher), I kind of hesitated and then tripped over my own feet," said Beck, who scored the tying run. "But then I got in there."
Maricich, who knocked home Courtney Stone earlier in the inning to cut the Vikings lead to 4-3, followed Beck home on the play and scored without a clean play at the plate.
Rebels coach Jamie Arundel said she did not send Maricich to try and score from second base with the winning run off the wild pitch, but had no qualms when she saw her try and win the game with aggressive baserunning.
"Jess has been like that all year for us," Arundel said. "The minute she knows she can take that extra base, she'll do it. It was awesome."
The Vikings (9-15) took the early lead on a first-inning solo home run by Samantha Oppenhuis, which was off winning pitcher Ashtyn Kapovich.
Kapovich, with the help of a sturdy defense, pitched her way out of jams in the second and third, and she only allowed six hits.
Beck tied the game with a RBI single in fifth.
The Vikings responded with three runs in the top of the sixth, fueled by the three-base Beck error off the bat of Kate Van Schouwen plus an RBI triple by Jaclene Bonnema.
The Rebels (8-13) closed the gap to 4-2 on Kaitlin Togtman's RBI double.
Cori Reynolds had three hits for the Rebels, while the Vikings' Oppenhuis had two singles in addition to her home run.
"I thought we played one of our better games this week," Vikings coach Mike Oppenhuis said of the loss. "I was happy with the way they prepared, and with only one team error, that is within our team limits."
Please Wait…