Benet 5, Nazareth 0

It was Benet softball at its best Tuesday. Redwings coach Jerry Schilf hopes he sees it the rest of the season.

Benet banged out 12 hits and Meghan Eastman struck out six with strong defensive support in a 5-0 win over Nazareth in a game called due to lightning in the sixth.

"We've been up and down all season," Schilf said, "but today we came ready to play."

Nazareth pitcher Shannon Cawley had shut out the Redwings 1-0 on 2 hits in the teams' last meeting.

But Benet scored a run in the first on a Claire Geyer slap infield hit, a Laura Canulli single and a run-scoring single by Laura Makowski.

The Redwings tacked on 2 more runs in the second. Nora McGuire singled, Shelli Schaffer dropped down a perfect 2-strike bunt to the left of home plate and Kaitlin Coari drove home a run with an infield hit. Schaffer scored on a Nazareth error to make it 3-0.

Benet (17-13, 10-7 East Suburban Catholic Conference) added single runs in the third and fifth. Eight of the Redwings' nine starters had a hit; Mikayla Panko went hitless, but her sacrifice bunt led to the fourth run.

"It's contagious," Schilf said. "That's the way we hit earlier in the season."

"It definitely helps that we started to hit early and often," said Canulli, who went 3-for-3 with a double. "We haven't scored that much lately, so hopefully it will help our confidence."

Geyer added 2 hits for the Redwings and the right fielder also made a running catch in foul territory with 2 runners on in the fifth.

In a 2-1 win over Marist on Saturday, the junior No. 2 hitter scored a run and drove in Benet's other run.

"She's been coming up big for us, kind of our sparkplug," Schilf said.

Nora McGuire singled in a run in the third and Christina Jablonski drove in McGuire in the fifth. Eastman (11-7) limited Nazareth to 4 hits.

Benet hosts Providence on Saturday before opening regional play against Hinsdale South on Wednesday at Hinsdale Central.

"We're capable of beating anybody, but we have to do it collectively," Schilf said. "We can compete, as you could see today."

-- Joshua Welge

Timothy Christian 13, Holy Trinity 0: Janna Strodtman (11-11) fired a no-hitter, striking out 10 for the Trojans (12-13) in the first round of the Class 2A Timothy Christian regional. Lauren Hansberger added a solo home run.

Waubonsie Valley 3, Larkin 2: Ally Seplak went 2-for-4 with 3 runs batted in, including the game-winner in the bottom of the seventh for the Warriors (7-18, 5-11 Upstate Eight Conference).

Glenbard South 10, Yorkville 0: Jill Trzaska (14-1) struck out eight and Kristin Grossman hit her fifth homer of the year for the Raiders (22-5, 12-0 Western Sun Conference).

Glenbard North 5, Glenbard East 0: Jenny Nelson's 3-run homer, her sixth of the year, was the big blow in a 5-run fifth inning for the Panthers (15-10, 7-6 DuPage Valley Conference).

Montini 4, St. Francis 0: Jenna Scudder went 3-for-3 with a run scored and RBI, and Lara Mangialardi struck out eight for Montini (10-10, 5-5 Suburban Catholic Conference).

Baseball

St. Charles North 2, South Elgin 0, suspended: At the top of the St. Charles North dugout, there's one motivational quote after another from the likes of Knute Rockne, Vince Lombardi, Reggie Jackson and Yogi Berra.

With the way this season has gone, maybe it's time to add a meteorologist with those sports legends. Perhaps Tom Skilling or Willard Scott.

So right next to Lombardi's: "The harder you work for it, the harder it is to surrender," you can read: "With our April and May weather in Illinois, Playing spring baseball takes a lot and lot of patience."

The North Stars (20-7, 15-5) had yet another game suspended Tuesday -- their fifth in the Upstate Eight Conference alone -- with a 2-0 lead over South Elgin (11-11, 11-11) heading to the top of the fifth inning.

"The weather has been very difficult on everybody this year," St. Charles North coach Todd Genke said. "I can't remember a year when we've had so many suspended games. It's a strain on your pitching staff for sure."

The game will be completed after the regularly scheduled South Elgin-St. Charles North matchup Thursday in St. Charles.

"I know the rules," Genke laughed. "We're getting good at that."

Play was halted at 5:25 p.m. when lightning was spotted. The teams waited until 6:10 before suspending the game.

At the rate St. Charles North's Zach Hirsch worked through the first four innings, the game might have been over before 6:10.

The junior left-hander threw just 49 pitches in the four innings, allowing no hits, no walks and striking out four. The only baserunner he allowed came on a two-out error in the third.

"That's the way to get on the mound, getting it and throwing strikes and all of a sudden you (the batter) start feeling pressure," South Elgin coach Jim Kating said.

"Anytime you have a pitcher throwing strikes, and he's getting three pitches over, now when he makes a mistake you better take advantage of it or you might not see anything good to hit."

South Elgin's Josh Myers matched Hirsch (4-2) through three scoreless innings.

Myers struck out three in those three innings and allowed only a Jake Thornton single. His center fielder Matt Wright made a pair of nice grabs in the third inning.

The North Stars used a patient approach in the fourth while Myers labored through a 34-pitch inning. Ryan Richardson and Brian de la Torriente drew walks to start the rally.

"I thought he threw some pretty good pitches that didn't go in our favor," Kating said. "He had been around the plate the whole game and I thought he deserved some of those things."

With runners at second and third and two outs, sophomore catcher Matt Stevens battled through an 8-pitch at-bat before driving a ball back through the middle for a 2-run single. With the count at 2-2, Stevens fouled off two pitches before finding one he could handle.

"I don't look at him as a sophomore anymore," Genke said. "He's an impressive kid. He's come up with some big hits for us. He's going to be fun to coach for the next couple years."

Brandon Nothnagel followed by lining out on a hard-hit ball to center, which wound up being the last batter of the game.

-- John Lemon

Neuqua Valley 7, Bartlett 0:ŒIan Krol (5-1) pitched a 5-inning no-hitter -- his second of the year -- and came within a walk of his second perfect game for the Wildcats (25-5, 19-2) in the shortened Upstate Eight Conference win. Brian McNabb homered and drove in 3 runs.

Glenbard North 4, Glenbard East 3:ŒThe Panthers (11-10, 11-8) pulled within a game of the DuPage Valley Conference lead with their ninth straight win. Alex Mullendore's fourth-inning solo home run proved to be the game-winning hit. Austin Safranski (5-3) scattered 6 hits in the complete-game effort. Eric Knol homered and had 3 RBI for Glenbard East (9-20, 6-13).

Glenbard West 7, Proviso West 3:ŒWill Matthews (1-0) won on the mound for the Hilltoppers (15-13, 8-10), who rallied from a 3-0 deficit to notch the West Suburban Silver win.

Downers North 5, Oak Park 4:ŒDan Sheppard, who homered, and Eric Jagielo each had 2 hits and an RBI for the Trojans (18-9, 12-6) in their West Suburban Silver win. A.J. DeMarco also homered.

St. Francis 11, Montini 1:ŒAn 8-run top of the fifth inning shot the Spartans (11-14, 3-10) to the five-inning Suburban Catholic Conference win. Jason Lombardi doubled and drove in 2 runs. Kenny Schatz went 2-for-3. Winning pitcher Trent Anderson improved to 4-2.