Benet's Eastman stops Neuqua

Meghan Eastman was a bundle of nerves prior to Saturday's game with Neuqua Valley - not that you could tell once she took the mound.

"I actually had a really bad warmup - nothing was working," Eastman said. "During the game adrenaline just took over."

Eastman took a no-hitter into the seventh inning, and Benet capitalized on several Neuqua Valley miscues in the field for a 4-1 win at Saturday's Class 4A Naperville North regional final.

No. 3 seed Benet (31-5) advances to play No. 2 Naperville Central in Thursday's Class 4A sectional semifinal at Neuqua Valley.

"I knew I had the no-hitter," said Eastman (22-4), who struck out six, "but the first priority is to win the game. It's not the end of the world that I didn't get it. I knew that this could potentially be my last game I'd ever play. I'm just savoring every game we have left."

The two teams combined to commit 7 errors behind ace pitchers Eastman and Colleen Hohman. It was Benet cashing in on most of the mistakes.

Nora McGuire reached on a third strike passed ball leading off the second inning, and moved to second on a sacrifice. She took third on a wild pitch and scored on Mikayla Panko's two-out, two-strike single to center. The Redwings added 3 unearned runs in the sixth to go ahead 4-0, Neuqua committing 3 errors in the inning.

"We talk a lot about putting the ball in play - they can't make mistakes if you're striking out," said Benet coach Jerry Schilf, who team fanned 8 times against Hohman but only 4 of those after the second inning. "We wanted short swings today and make them play defense. We weren't going to hit any homers off her."

Shelli Schaffer had 2 hits for Benet, as did Courtney Makowski. Makowski also made a pair of sparkling plays at third base on third-inning bunt attempts. She cut down the lead runner at second on one bunt, and on the next attempt caught a popped-up bunt and doubled off a runner at first.

"She's like a brick wall out there," Eastman said.

Neuqua scored an unearned run in the seventh on a Summer McKenzie RBI single. But Eastman retired the last two batters with two runners on. Neuqua (22-8) will return all but two seniors next year. It was an emotional day for head coach Michelle Schmidt, who is moving on to Metea Valley.

"They are going to be a force to be reckoned with next year," Schmidt said. "It's very hard for me to walk away. But I will be their biggest fan next year."

Benet, meanwhile, gets a desired second crack at Naperville Central. The Redhawks won 2-1 in 12 innings during the regular season.

"We're ready for Naperville Central," Makowski said. "For a lot of us girls, it's our senior year. We have a lot of revenge from last time. We're going to play hard, and we're going to win."