All hope seemed loss for the Southland Vikings in their season opener against the DuPage County Hounds on Monday afternoon, but late-inning heroics assured the Vikings wouldn’t start their season with a loss, and the game was suspended in the 10th due to darkness tied at 7.
Southland young, gritty team showed determination late when it mattered the most, much to the pleasure of interim manager Alex Triantafillo.
“You’re going into it chasing three, much to my pleasure the boys didn’t give up,” Triantafillo said. “They tried to put together a few at-bats … and luckily that worked out for us.”
The Vikings were down to their last out in the top of the ninth inning with no men on base, but Angel Figuera was hit by a pitch and started a three-run top of the inning, tying the game at 5.
The Hounds pitcher issued three straight walks before Tyler Kenjic knocked over a single that scored two runs.
Southland’s magic didn’t stop there. The Vikings hit two singles in the 10th after a strikeout started the inning, which led to a Figuera bunt single to the shortstop, scoring what seemed to be the go-ahead run. Southland added an insurance run with a Jalen Davis single on a hard ground ball.
DuPage didn’t give up, though, scoring two runs in the bottom of the 10th, forcing the game to end in a tie.
The game was close for the first half behind a strong performance from Vikings starter Kevin Glynn, who pitched five innings and allowed one run on five hits and two strikeouts. The Hounds scored three in the sixth off of Troy Cullen and added one run in the eighth.
“(Gynn’s) funny,” Triantafillo said. “You can tell he thrives on pressure and wants the ball in big situations.”
Monday’s game has no official day to resume, but it assumed that either Thursday or Friday could be the next time the two teams meet.
Southland’s season opener was delayed three days due to rain during the Memorial Day weekend. Triantafillo was happy to get the season started.
“You can sense the excitement,” Triantafillo said. “It took a couple innings to get going … as the game went on, they got their groove. It was exciting to be out there.”
