The Quincy High School-Quincy Notre Dame rivalry isn't just exciting on the hardwood.

Tuesday's nine-inning softball game between QHS and QND at The Backyard proved that point.

While there were definitely more fans in attendance on Jan. 5 at The Pit when the two cross-town rivals met in a boys basketball game, the drama neared the same level on the softball diamond -- a few hundred yards away.

The night began similar to the boys basketball game between these two schools earlier this school year when the junior varsity game needed overtime to settle the score between the Blue Devils and Raiders.

On Tuesday, officials needed to implement the international tiebreaker to ensure the JV game ended before classes started on Wednesday morning.

In both versions of the rivalry, the varsity game had a tough opening act to follow.

And somehow on Tuesday, it once again managed to surpass everyone's expectations.

"What a great game," QND coach Eric Orne said afterward. "What a great atmosphere. I tell ya what, this was a lot of fun. I know I always try to make it special over here at The Backyard but we had a great crowd tonight and really a good showcase for Quincy softball."

He's right.

From the flawless fielding -- there were no errors in the game -- to only one walk being issued in the contest. Both of those are uncommon sights at high school softball games.

It was also nice to see a team win the game with back-to-back hits -- rather than see a team flat out throw the game away with an error.

QND's Renita Bunte powered a double to center field that fell a few feet short of clearing the fence.

If it flew over, that would have also provided a memorable ending. But waiting to see what Karlee Gengenbacher would do at the plate in the bottom of the ninth provided additional suspense.

Gengenbacher sent the ball to rest in the right field grass, ending the game and the suspense, scoring Bunte.

The hit gave QND a rare season sweep over against QHS.

But the pitching battle is probably the most memorable story within the game.

QHS senior Mackenzi Fairley compiled 15 strikeouts and her first nine outs were recorded via a strikeout.

Fairley is a power pitcher.

QND senior Emily McCaughey is more the finesse type. She allowed QHS hitters to put the ball in play and relied on her teammates behind her to back her up.

She still retired the final 20 batters and faced the minimum number of batters.

Two different pitching styles.

Two very different schools.

One special rivalry.

-- mgoldberg@whig.com / 221-3367