Prospect powers up against St. Viator

Monday' nonconference season-opening softball game between host St. Viator and Prospect was moved to Heritage Park in Wheeling, where home runs can be hard to come by with the outfield fence standing about 30 feet tall.

But a couple of Prospect freshmen figured out how to get around that dilemma quite well.

Alyssa Cacini and Lauren Caldrone managed home runs - inside the park.

The speedy rookies each had 2 hits in their varsity debuts as part of an offensive attack that belted 16 hits in a 14-3 triumph.

"We like those freshmen," said Knights coach Jim Adair, who watched Caldrone go 3-for-5 with 4 RBI and Cacini, batting leadoff, finish 2-for-4 with a pair of RBI from her 2-run homer to right field. "It was really nice to get a win. We hit the ball really hard."

No one hit it harder than Knights junior first baseman Casey Lenski, who belted two leadoff triples and one leadoff single while going 3-for-4 with 2 runs.

Last season, Lenski actually clouted a homer over the 30-foot fence against Wheeling.

"I thought we all did real well hitting," Lenski said. "This was a nice way to start the season. We did a good job of keeping our momentum after they came back and got the lead on us."

The Lions recovered from a from a 2-0 deficit with 3 runs in the bottom of the fourth.

Sophomore Cate Meersman, who was 3-for-5 with 4 RBI, singled to center to score Cacini, who led off the game with a single to right.

Prospect went ahead 2-0 in the top of the fourth on Caldrone's leadoff inside-the-park homer to the right-center gap.

Cacini was impressive on the mound in the first three innings, limiting the Lions to 1 hit while striking out five, in addition to a batter reaching on a dropped third strike.

Viator went ahead with 3 runs off Delilah Malczewski, thanks to a pair of stand-up triples by Catherine Hafner and Can Vanvalkenburg, an error and an RBI groundout by senior pitcher Krystal Harris.

Malczewski (1-0) came back and did not permit another run in the final 3 innings, allowing only 2 hits and striking out two.

"I was nervous at first," the junior left-hander said. "But I just said this is just like any other game. I took a deep breath and regrouped. I focused on what I had to do."

Malczewski settled in well to register the win against a Viator team that finished with 5 hits, including two by cleanup hitter Jenna Breslin and one from Olivia Michalak with two outs in the bottom of the seventh.

"I thought the kids were hitting the ball hard so I was happy with that," said Lions coach John Scotillo. "We hit some line drives that they made nice plays on. It was our first time hitting live pitching so it was nice to put the winter doldrums behind us.

"We were down 2-0 and came back to take the lead so that was good. We just had to throw too many pitches (starter Harris and Megan Naughton), especially Krystal, and that will take its toll early in the season."

Emily Saenz, batting in the No. 9 spot, went 3-for-4 for Prospect with an RBI while teammates Rachel Trebswether, Erica Nelson and Malczewski each had 1 hit.

"There was definitely a change in momentum when Casey (Lenski) led off the third inning with a triple and we did not score," Adair said."But we hung in there and I thought we got better as the game went on."