Softball: Chase Machain hurls Trinity past Elmwood Park

Updated: May 17, 2012 9:03PM

Some aggressive base running, timely hitting, and solid pitching helped No. 16 Trinity get past Elmwood Park 4-0 on Thursday afternoon in Elmwood Park.

Junior Chase Machain pitched the full seven innings allowing just three hits and facing two over the minimum while striking out seven for the win.

“During warm-ups I felt really good, and I tried to keep them off balance,” Machain said. “We played some really great defense and made some big clutch plays to hold the runners when they did have some.”

Trinity (27-7) opened the scoring with a pair of runs in the top of the third off Elmwood Park starter Gabby Uvelli. Taylor Lang led off with a double to right-center field and advanced to third on Abby Ramirez’s single. Ramirez stole second and advanced to third on Ashley Klauss’ sacrifice fly that scored Lang on a close play. Ramirez then scored on Nicole Evans’ grounder to third, scampering home on the throw across the diamond.

Michela Williams twice came up big with two-out hits for the Blazers. She doubled home Gabby Smart from first base in the top of the fourth before adding an insurance run in the sixth with a bouncer up the middle that plated Monica Garcia.

“I play (travel softball) with more than 50 percent of those girls, so I knew I had to do something in that situation,” said Williams, who is from Elmwood Park. “It feels good to do something to help the team.”

The Tigers (15-15) couldn’t muster much offensively going down in order in the first, second and seventh, but stayed with the Blazers throughout with good pitching by Uvelli (4 innings) and Katelyn Jakobsen (3 innings) and some solid defense behind them.

“It’s been our story all year when we face top quality pitching,” Elmwood Park coach Brad Reynard said. “We didn’t put our best swings on the ball, and when we did, they made great plays.”

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