Accolades and plaudits have become common for Maple Grove's Sydney Smith. She showed why in a nontraditional doubleheader Friday.
The Crimson traveled to Andover that afternoon. The LSU-bound Smith pitched a no-hitter — she had a perfect game through six innings — and faced 22 batters, one more than the minimum, in a 3-0 victory.
Maple Grove traveled to its home field immediately after where it hosted intra-district rival Osseo in an annual game to raise money for breast cancer research.
The break between games had little effect on Smith. She was perfect again through six innings before giving up two hits and a game-tying run in the seventh inning. Before that, she had pitched 13 consecutive hitless, scoreless innings.
With the game tied 1-1, Smith led off the bottom of the eighth inning with a 300-foot walk-off home run.
In all, Smith pitched 15 innings Friday, giving up one run and two hits while striking out 29.
Super Spielmans
Minnesota Vikings General Manager Rick Spielman was not the only member of the family to have a successful week last week.
His son J.D., a sophomore midfielder for the Eden Prairie lacrosse team, scored three goals in back-to-back victories over Edina (14-7) and Blake (6-5). His third goal of the game against Blake came with 30 seconds left in regulation and the score tied 5-5.
