Pekin?s Crouse picks up win No. 100

PACKWOOD ? A combined 20 hits, 21 runs and 13 errors all culminated in one perfect, even number for Pekin pitcher Mycaela Crouse.

Now in her fifth season in black and red, Crouse picked up career win No. 100 on her home diamond Tuesday night in an anything-but-pretty 14-7 Panther victory over IMS.

?There?s been a lot of memories, a lot of hard work, but mostly, it?s been a lot of fun,? Crouse said after the game.

The 98 victories she entered 2010 with may have taken a toll on her right arm ? particularly her shoulder where tendonitis has limited her work in the early season. Tuesday was just Crouse?s third appearance of the season, but a resolute attitude that had carried her to the other 99 wins was front and center once again as she finished the seven-inning complete game.

?She?s a competitor, and that?s always been who she is,? said Pekin head coach Bryan Marlay. ?She?ll be the first to tell you that she?s not the world?s greatest pitcher, but she?s someone that?s just a gritty pitcher every night out. She will compete until she has an arm falling off.?

With a vote of confidence from her physical therapist that her arm wouldn?t actually fall off, Crouse was cleared to pitch all seven innings ? her first time doing so this season ? to become just the third Pekin pitcher to eclipse the triple-digit plateau. Nancy Hendrickson accomplished the feat as a Panther in the late 70?s and Allison Brown holds the school record with 129 wins, which she wrapped up in the 2002 season.

She also becomes the 303rd pitcher in the state of Iowa to get to 100 and joins her sister, Debbie Crouse-Cummings, who ended her career at Ottumwa with 100 wins on the nose.

Crouse is also in line for No. 101 from last week?s game vs. Columbus, which is currently suspended in the third inning with Pekin holding a 6-0 lead.

?It?s good to have this past us just so we don?t have to wonder if she?s going to get injured or if she?s going to get wins,? said Marlay.

With fans bringing out lawn chairs out in full force Tuesday, Crouse may not have had the best outing of her career, but it may very well be the one she?ll remember the most. And more important than anything else, the 10th-ranked Panthers needed a win to keep an unblemished conference record.

However, a wave of uneasiness passed over the anticipatory crowd as IMS jumped out to an early 3-0 lead. Four Pekin defensive errors in the first three innings culminated with Meredith Shrock?s RBI single scored Emma Yoder to give IMS the three-run lead heading into Pekin?s turn in the bottom of the third.

?I was a little nervous, but that?s the way our team is,? said Crouse. ?Sometimes we take a little while to get going, but it usually turns out OK.?

It definitely worked out Tuesday.

The Panthers caught on to IMS pitcher Laura Hochstetler and answered back with authority scoring five runs in the third to take a lead they would never surrender. Blakely, Crouse, Kaitlin Spilman, Dominique Tolle and Jessi Martin all crossed the plate in the fifth as errors began to pile up against IMS.

?We went from one of the harder throwers the night before at Highland to one of the slower ones,? said Marlay. ?You have to know how to switch gears. Finally I told the girls that we have to keep attacking the ball, and the third or fourth time through the lineup we started putting better swings on the ball, and that?s when we put those runs up.?

Crouse then pitched two scoreless innings as Pekin came close to enacting the 10-run rule in the fifth. Blakely, who has been at Crouse?s side for most of those five years as a vacuum at third base, once again helped her friend to the career milestone. Blakely led the offensive charge going 2-3 with two runs scored while Tolle scored three times and drove in three more.

Crouse finished the game with three strikeouts, one walk and nine hits with just two of the seven runs being earned.

With the win, Pekin improves to 9-1 overall and 5-0 in SEISC north division play as they now get set for Thursday?s trip to Winfield-Mount Union.