Pop-Up Drops, Paraclete Falls

Lauren Nydam of Village Christian High and Sara Gonzales of Paraclete locked up in one of the region’s best pitching duels of the season on Thursday.

Nydam, a freshman, struck out a school-record 21 batters and pitched a three-hitter at Village Christian to defeat the Spirits, 1-0, in 18 innings and claim sole possession of first place in the Alpha League.

Gonzales (15-2), a junior, struck out a school-record 23 in a five-hitter.

She lost when Dena DePompa led off the 18th with her third single, advanced to third on two sacrifices and scored when third baseman Amy Paradiso couldn’t catch Amee DuBois’ pop-up down the left-field line.

Gonzales threw 226 pitches and Nydam threw 178 in the 3 1/2-hour game.

“This was really a pivotal win for us,” said first-year Coach Jana Kovar of Village Christian (17-2, 3-0 in league play), ranked No. 4 in Southern Section Division V.

Paraclete (17-3, 2-1), ranked No. 1 in the division and No. 6 in the region by The Times, had two runners thrown out at the plate in the first inning and stranded nine runners, four in scoring position.