Carrignan's catch saves day for St. Charles E. against Burlington C.

Momentum-changing plays aren't just reserved for the late innings of softball games.

With her team clinging to a 4-3 lead in the top of the fourth, St. Charles East senior left fielder Bethany Carrignan's sliding, back-to-the-plate catch ended a Burlington Central threat and may have saved the day for the Saints (1-1) during their 11-3 nonconference triumph Monday afternoon in St. Charles.

Burlington Central (1-3), which had already plated a fourth-inning run on an RBI double by Kaitlyn O'Reilly, had runners on first and second when Samantha Gruner laced a two-out line drive to left.

Ranging back and slightly to her left, Carrignan made the catch and tumbled over a couple times before showing the base umpire the ball for the third out in the fourth.

"It went on my palm and I wasn't sure if it was a for-sure catch, so I grabbed it close to my body and I rolled over on top of it," said Carrignan.

"I've never made a catch like that. I've made a few (catches) that were in front of me, but not behind me on the run. So that was kind of a first for me."

It certainly caught the attention of Saints coach Kelly Horan.

"What a fantastic catch that was," said Horan. "That was probably the best catch I've ever seen. It was straight backward and she jumped (for it)."

In the bottom half of the inning, the momentum continued to swing toward the Saints as senior second baseman Steph Roan smacked a 2-2 offering over the fence in right-center for a solo home run and 5-3 lead.

"She just waited for it and took it on a line out of there," said Horan. "We noticed today that they were going outside 90 percent of the time, so we loaded up on that side of the plate. The kids made a real nice adjustment."

Jenny Niemiec (3-for-4) delivered a 2-run single later in the inning as the Saints upped their lead to 7-3.

Carrignan's 2-run single and an RBI hit by Katie Stengler highlighted a 3-run fifth before junior catcher Rae Anne Payleitner blasted a sixth-inning solo homer to cap the scoring.

Gabby Moe (1-0) worked 32/3 innings to record the victory, while Stengler tossed 31/3 scoreless innings of relief with 5 strikeouts to get the save.

"I wish I could tell you Pitcher 1 is going to go 7 (innings) and Pitcher 2 is going to go 7 and she's going to be great," said Horan. "We have a third pitcher who is also ready. We've got three pitchers and we're going to platoon them."

Eight of the nine starters contributed to the 11-hit attack, while 6 drove in runs as the Saints made amends for Friday's season-opening loss to Glenbard North.

O'Reilly, Haley Alabamonte and Abby Morrow each had a pair of hits for the Rockets, who left 10 runners on base.

"Obviously in the first inning we were nowhere near ready to play again," said Rockets coach Scot Sutherland. "In the first half of the game, we were leaving too many runners on and toward the end we just started swinging at too many bad pitches.

"That's just a lack of focus there because we're better than what we showed today."