Softball: Morgan Moseley, Lily Del Toro fuel Lake Central victory

Updated: May 2, 2012 10:37PM

ST. JOHN — Morgan Moseley is reaping the benefits of working extra hard on her hitting.

The Lake Central senior had experienced a lot of tough luck at the dish earlier this spring — smacking the ball hard but often right into the gloves of defenders.

Over the past two or three weeks, though, Moseley has been on a tear — upping her average from .280 to .388, while gaining more confidence each game.

Moseley played a key role for the Indians (17-2, 9-1) in a 6-2 Duneland Athletic Conference win over Crown Point (16-5, 8-3) Wednesday.

Instead of her line drives finding gloves now, they’re finding gaps.

Moseley ripped a pair of singles and drove in three runs against CP starter and losing pitcher Siena Gyure (8-4).

“Morgan has really been swinging the bat well the last month,’’ LC coach Jeff Sherman said. “She’s really dialed-in at the plate at the moment.’’

Moseley worked hard to help turn herself around.

“I’ve taken a lot of extra reps and done whatever coach has been telling me, whether it’s to keep my hands back, or keep my weight on my back foot,’’ she said.

Gyure pitched no-hit ball until the fourth inning when LC’s Nikki Adams ripped a two-out double to start a three-run LC uprising. The Indians added another three-spot (all unearned runs) in the sixth after CP made it 3-2 in its half of the sixth.

Indians pitcher Lily Del Toro (7-1) scattered six hits and fanned seven in six innings.

“Lily made incredible pitches when she needed to,’’ Sherman said. “She went deep into a lot of the counts, but made big pitches in those situations.’’

After the Bulldogs scored in the first inning on an RBI single by Ally Rock, Del Toro allowed a run in the sixth before freshman Annabel Karberg pitched a perfect seventh.

Crown Point hurt itself with three errors and a couple mental blunders.

“For two innings, we kind of fell apart a little bit there — the wheels kind of fell off and we needed to put (them) back on and tighten them,’’ Bulldogs’ interim head coach Ginger Britton said.

“They have to come out and we have to do a better job when we’re trying to push forward and close the door. We put ourselves in position there, but let it slip away.’’

© 2013 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed without permission. For more information about reprints and permissions, visit www.suntimesreprints.com. To order a reprint of this article, click here.