Softball: Benet stays hot, knocks off Glenbard South

Updated: April 25, 2012 7:41PM

There are very few teams that can go back-to-back against Downers Grove North and Glenbard South and walk away with consecutive victories.

No. 3 Benet is one of those teams.

The Redwings, after beating North on Tuesday, escaped with a 3-2 nonconference win over the host Raiders on Wednesday. The visitors improved to 21-2, winning nine in a row, and will buckle up for a doubleheader against Marian Catholic this Saturday.

“Molly (Moran) pitched a great game,” Benet coach Jerry Schilf said. “All year long we have carried her but today she made it happen. We have a tough week but the kids are capable of competing.

“We had just enough today.”

Moran finished with a three-hitter and no earned runs to improve her record to 21-2. Up 3-0 in the bottom of the third, the Raiders (15-3) had two players reach on consecutive errors with two out. Jane Trzaska hit a two-run single up the middle to pull her team within a run and the eventual final score.

Ten consecutive batters were retired by Moran from that point on. Lisa Bartha opened the bottom of the seventh with a single, but after a sacrifice bunt by Hannah Taylor, Moran got the next two batters to ground out to end the game.

In the top of the inning after Ali Michalik scored on an error for the first run of the game, Stephanie Abello poked a two-out, two-run single that scored Kendall Duffy and Julianne Rurka. The pair reached who reached on consecutive walks by Stephanie Chitkowski (7-2).

Duffy and Rurka almost didn’t get a chance to bat after two Redwings runners were thrown out on a double steal attempt of second and home. The Raiders ran off the field as if there were three outs. The Redwings followed suit by taking the field, but after the confusion was cleared with the umpires all concerned realized there were really two outs.

“It was a weird game,” said Schilf, who had three runners thrown out at home.

Georgia-bound Maeve McGuire, who is hitting .616 with nine home runs and 33 RBI’s, was 2-for-4, including a deep fly to the 210-foot center field wall.

“It was fun playing against my sister yesterday,” said McGuire of her sister Rowan McGuire, who is a star player at Downers North. “Our goal right now is to win conference, so we are just keeping it light and trying to have fun.”

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