Rosary puts away Aurora Central Catholic
Lauren Murray has a whole new view of her senior season at Rosary over the last three games - literally.
The Royals moved Murray from center field to catcher. She looked comfortable behind the plate Wednesday in an 8-2 win over visiting Aurora Central Catholic.
"I like it, I'm getting used to it. It's definitely a different view than center field. Quite different," Murray said. "They decided to throw me back there and they kept me there."
Murray said she had not played catcher since fourth grade but the transition has been going well.
"The softball knowledge is there," Murray said. "It's learning the blocking and all of that. I really like it. There's a lot more action back there than center field. But center field is my home."
Rosary (5-11, 5-4) looked right at home against the Chargers (10-9), overcoming a 1-0 deficit with four runs in the second inning and staying in control the rest of the way.
That made a winner of Elayne Young, who evened her record at 4-4.
"We always come out super pumped when we play them and I think coming out super pumped and ready to go helped today," Young said. "Our bats have been a struggle this year but our offense really came alive today."
Young said her inside pitch was working well early in the game. Murray liked the way Young hit her spots on both sides of the plate.
Rosary assistant coach Rob Henderson filled in for John Kazmeirczak who was at a funeral.
"Elayne was solid as always," Henderson said. "She had a few changeups she mixed in that were effective. She wasn't throwing many different pitches today. They were having trouble hitting her fastball."
Rosary gave Young all the offense she needed in the second. The rally started with the Chargers dropping a fly ball and later in the inning they made an infield error.
Natalya Flowers singled following the first error, and two runs scored when No. 9 hitter Madison McDonald singled up the middle for a 2-1 lead. Danyal VanGundy drove in the third run on a ground out, and Murray capped the inning by ripping an RBI double down the left-field line.
The Royals took advantage of 5 Charger errors against hard-luck loser Paige Miller (6-5).
"We gave them four runs in the second inning," Chargers coach Tom Babyar said. "They should have had no runs. Then you can play the game differently. It was just ugly. We were horrible defensively and we put our pitcher in a hole. We have to learn from it and go on. You have to try to improve."
Miller helped herself with an RBI single in the fourth to score Mary Wileman, who had reached on a dropped third strike, to bring the Chargers within 4-2.
The Royals answered with single runs in the third and fourth. The first scored on another Charger error, the second on a Sam Phelps RBI single after VanGundy had singled and stole second.
Murray made it an 8-2 lead in the fifth by crushing a double to deep left center that plated McDonald and Emma Molenhouse.
"They were kind of just down the middle and they kind of looked like beach balls," Murray said of her 2 doubles. "I stayed back on it and waited for it.
"This is definitely a confidence booster for us."