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PLAINFIELD – There was a moment in Tuesday’s game where it looked like Romeoville’s finely crafted eight-run lead might be in jeopardy.
And in past seasons, things might have broken down for the Spartans.
But this year’s version of the Spartans is built a bit different. Instead of folding after a rough inning they tacked on a pair of insurance runs to fend off Plainfield Central for a 11-7 victory.
“We were talking earlier that nothing is given to us,” Romeoville coach Michael Skroch said. “We have to earn everything. We feel like we have a little bit of a chip on our shoulder, us being Romeoville, and not having a history of winning baseball.
“We have to go earn it and earn that respect and that definitely carried over to the end of this game.”
Romeoville (12-9, 4-1 SPC East) hasn’t posted a winning season in at least 20 years but the Spartans seem to have the components in place to make a real run at doing that this season.
“It’s experience,” Skroch said of his team’s notable turnaround. “Karlos Otero and Nolan Holgado are four-year starters. These guys have been here and they’ve been battle tested.”
The Spartans showed that mettle early. After scratching out a run without the benefit of a hit in the first inning, Romeoville tacked on three more runs in the third to take what looked to be a commanding 4-0 lead.
That lead looked substantial because of the work done by Romeoville starter Ryan Uscila. Uscila struck out six over four-plus innings of work before getting touched up for a solo home run by Plainfield Central’s JT Augustyniak.
But Romeoville didn’t let the homer snowball into something worse as the bullpen left the bases loaded.
Then they carried that momentum into the top of the sixth where the Spartans tacked on four more runs, including what turned out to be a pivotal bases-clearing double from Richard Conley, part of a three-hit, four-RBI day for him to give Romeoville a 9-1 lead.
That looked like it would be more than enough for the Spartans, but things came a but unglued for Romeoville in the bottom half of the sixth. A collection of hits, walks and errors allowed Plainfield Central (18-4, 4-1) to send 10 men to the plate and score six runs to narrow the margin to 9-7.
“It was a little bit worrying, but I know our guys and I know how we can clutch up in these types of moments,” Conley said. “We never really hang our heads down and we are always looking to add on.”
Romeoville did just that in the seventh with Conley playing a part again with an infield single that scored a run and a bases loaded walk accounting for the other.
And that persistence and ability to answer back is still something the Spartans are still getting used to.
“We’re fighting a little bit that it is new,” Skroch said. “It is new that we’re in spots that we’re supposed to win.
“And we are in spots that we haven’t said this before, but possibly winning a conference championship is more of a reality that it has ever been if we play our game. So we have to learn to handle that pressure and so we are really focusing on one game at a time.”