Burlington's Maisto limits Batavia to 1 hit

The Burlington Central softball express is rolling right along these days.

With dominant pitching, aggressive base-running and solid defense as its hallmarks, Central has been an imposing force in the young season.

Wednesday afternoon in Batavia, the Rockets continued their winning ways behind the superlative pitching of Erica Maisto.

The senior went the distance against Batavia, nearly pitching the third no-hitter of the year for Central in its 3-0 nonconference victory over the Bulldogs.

Batavia junior Alexa Schofield was the only batter to hit safely against Maisto, lacing a one-out single to center in the first.

Central extended its season-opening winning streak to four, and Maisto picked up her second win with a 7-strikeout performance with a lone walk.

Batavia fell to 1-3.

"I don't really focus on strikeouts," Maisto said. "Just hitting my spots."

Central cleanup batter Brooke Porto led off the Rockets' second inning with a single and scored the only run necessary on a wild pitch.

Brittany Priest raced home on a bunt-to-first putout one batter later, and the Rockets were never seriously threatened.

"The key right now is our pitching," Porto said.

"Erica is very good with her movement. (Offensively,) we like to be aggressive and take anything we can get."

Central managed only 5 hits, but Maisto escaped one of her few challenges with a brilliant defensive play.

With the Bulldogs' Alyssa Bliedorn on second in the third after a leadoff walk and sacrifice, Maisto speared a vicious Schofield shot to literally escape further damage.

"Now I know my reflexes are there," Maisto said. "I didn't even think about it. It was a good surprise."

For the game, Maisto retired the side in order three times; the Bulldogs' single baserunners in the other four innings never advanced beyond second base.

"We don't like losses, but look who we played," Batavia first-year coach Leon Pedraza said. "I'm happy with the way we played."

Kelsey Phalen kept Batavia within striking distance with the defensive play of the game in the Rockets' sixth.

Sam Gruener led off with a double and ultimately scored on another wild pitch, and the Rockets were looking to extend their lead to four with runners at the corners and one out.

Phalen fielded a grounder from her third-base position, tagged out the runner who roamed from the base and threw to first to complete the double play.

"She is our top player in the infield," Pedraza said of his Valpo-bound senior.

Central had a pair of uncharacteristic fielding errors to allow the final two Batavia runners, but Maisto was unfazed and had a pair of caught-looking strikeouts in the seventh.

"I thought Erica did a very good job mentally," Central coach Scot Sutherland said.