CAPE VINCENT — Courtney Henry stood just 60 feet away, and the Thousand Islands softball team needed a mere hit to accomplish something no other Frontier League team has in nearly seven years.
But Lyndsay Rowell and her Sandy Creek teammates have different plans, and their 92-game league win streak is still intact. For now, at least.
Rowell fired a fastball that barely caught the corner of the plate to strike out Thousand Islands' Beth Thomas in the bottom of the seventh Wednesday as the Comets and Vikings played to a 4-4 tie in a game suspended by rain at Cape Vincent Recreation Park.
The game will likely resume when the teams meet again May 19 at Sandy Creek. Mercedes LaVeck is set to lead off the top of the eighth for the Comets (10-0), though no official plans have been made to complete the "C" Division matchup.
"We'll let the ADs (athletic directors) figure it out," Vikings coach Walt Gardziel said.
Henry's triple in the fifth drove in Jamie Wiley for the game's final run, knotting it at 4-4.
Jessica Wiley, who struck out four batters, joined Henry as the only Vikings with two hits. But Jessica Wiley was even more impressive on the mound. The Franklin Pierce-bound hurler retired 10 of Sandy Creek's final 11 batters in order, and didn't allow a base runner to advance past second after Karlie DeCarolis scored in the fourth.
Rowell turned in nine strikeouts of her own, as she struggled in later innings to maintain control of an extremely wet ball after every pitch. The rain let up shortly after the opening pitch, only to become heavy for the final few innings.
The Vikings (9-1 overall, 8-1 league), though, seized the momentum with key extra-base, run-scoring drives by Henry and Jessica Wiley.
Sara Orvis led off the seventh with a base hit for Thousand Islands, but she was put out at third a few plays later on a pinpoint throw from DeCarolis in center field. Tayler Fravel had two RBI singles for Sandy Creek.
If the Vikings happen to pull off an extra-innings victory, they would become the first Frontier League squad to hand the Comets a regular-season loss since Lowville defeated them 5-4 on May 17, 2001.
