On Monday, Northern faced St. Mary's Ryken in a battle between two of the state's top teams. The Northern Patriots fell just short of the St. Mary's Ryken Knights by a score of 6-4. It was the first time this season that Northern let down their fans at home.
Northern saw seven different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Reagan Powell, who went 1-for-4 with a triple, two RBI, and a run.
On St. Mary's Ryken's side, Emmaleigh Zagrodnichek spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: she surrendered just two earned (and two unearned) runs on seven hits and racked up nine Ks. Zagrodnichek has been consistent recently: she hasn't tossed less than seven strikeouts in six consecutive pitching appearances.
On the hitting side, the team relied heavily on Mackenzie Gorczyca, who scored two runs and stole a base while going 2-for-4.
Northern's defeat ended an 11-game streak of wins at home dating back to last season and dropped them to 14-4. As for St. Mary's Ryken, they pushed their record up to 11-1 with that victory, which was their sixth straight on the road.
Northern will challenge La Plata at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday. La Plata will be hoping to continue their three-game streak of scoring more runs each matchup than the last. As for St. Mary's Ryken, they will be playing in front of their home fans against Bishop McNamara at 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Bishop McNamara has struggled to contain batters this season (they've allowed nine runs per game on average), something St. Mary's Ryken will no doubt try to take advantage of.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
