By Drake Skleba

PLAINFIELD - For the second straight game, No. 4 Plainfield North spotted its cross-town rivals from Plainfield South an early lead. Trailing 3-0 after an inning and a half, the Tigers rallied behind No. 6 hitter Caleb Kissel and No. 7 hitter Kyle Bledsoe, to defeat South 8-5 in a crucial Southwest Prairie Conference game on Wednesday.

On Tuesday at Plainfield South, North spotted South a 2-0 lead only to rally past the Cougars and win 5-2. Kissel and Bledsoe were contributors in the Tiger win. On Wednesday, the Tiger duo outdid themselves.

Plainfield North (16-1; 7-1) trailed 3-2 as the game went to the bottom of the fifth. That's when Kissel came through with a clutch two-out RBI single to tie things up at 3-3. Bledsoe, who had never gone deep in his Plainfield North career, picked a great time to do so when he launched a bomb over the left-field fence. Bledsoe's first dinger scored his buddy Kissel ahead of him and gave the Tigers a 5-3 lead they would not relinquish.

“That was my first home run ever,” said an elated Bledsoe after the game. “I hit the ball hard and amazingly it went out.”

The Tigers tacked on three more runs in the sixth, highlighted by a bases-loaded RBI walk to Kissel and another clutch two-out, two-run single for Bledsoe. Bledsoe finished 3-for-4 with five RBI.

“In the first part of the season I was primarily pitching for us,” Bledsoe added. “Recently I have been playing third base and I want to stay in the lineup. I have really been hitting well since joining the lineup.”

Speaking of pitching, Bledsoe replaced Tiger junior right-handed starter, Brendan Miller (5-0) in the sixth. Miller allowed three runs in his five innings of work to pick up the win. Bledsoe, although he struggled through a wild seventh, nailed down his third save of the year for North.

Bledsoe gave up a pair of runs (one earned) in the seventh when he walked a man and plunked two others in the Cougar seventh.

“I never hit people,” said Bledsoe. “I was so pumped up over my hitting that I was really over-throwing in the seventh.”

Kissel doubled, singled, walked, scored two runs and drove in two runs, for a fine afternoon at the plate.

“We started out a little slow today but we came back and got this big win,” said Kissel. “I played well today. I was fortunate to see a lot of pitches in my at bat when I was able to get the game-tying single.”

Plainfield South (12-7; 5-3) had 10 hits, led by junior second baseman John Smith, who had two singles and a pair of Cougar RBI.

“Kissel and Bledsoe had big hits for us in our win at South on Tuesday,” said Plainfield North head coach John Darlington. “They are both very confident right now. Our guys had a great approach against a quality pitcher.”