Rosary gives new coach first win

Megan Tracy had the first of what she hopes will be many more to come on Monday after in Aurora.

The rookie Rosary softball coach earned her debut victory in monumental fashion as the Royals banged out 23 hits against Aurora Christian in the teams' Suburban Christian Conference game at the Stuart Sports Complex.

Every Rosary team member played during its 28-1 victory over the Eagles.

"It feels really good to get my first win as a head coach," said Tracy, who played her prep career at Batavia. "I'm glad we were able to get everyone in (the game). That's what's really exciting. Everyone got to play."

Six of the 11 batters who came to the plate for Rosary (1-3, 1-0) scored in the opening frame.

The first five - Natalya Flowers, Anna VanGundy, Sarah Willman, Emma Molenhouse and Madison McDonald - all reached safely.

Molenhouse and Flowers each had 2-run singles in the opening inning.

Flowers would be a constant thorn to the Eagles.

The sophomore stands all of 4-feet-10 inches, but Aurora Christian would fail to retire her the entire day.

Flowers had singles and an equal number of RBIs in her first four plate appearances.

"We came out really strong," Flowers said. "We knew what to do. We were ahead of everything."

"Natalya is a good competitor," Tracy said. "She has quality at-bats. She never swings at a bad pitch. She is our leadoff hitter and she is going to stay there."

The second inning was even more nightmarish for Aurora Christian (0-4, 0-1).

Without a senior in the program, the Eagles are coming off a 1-win season after not even being able to field a team the previous year.

Rosary had 10 hits in its 12-run second inning to take a beyond commanding 18-0 lead in the slaughter-rule game.

Xandria Olsen and McDonald had run-scoring doubles for Rosary during the inning which saw 17 Rosary players make a plate appearance.

In a show of sportsmanship, Tracy informed the home-plate umpire to terminate the inning even though Aurora Christian had recorded but one out.

But as one-sided as the game was, Aurora Christian competed until the very end.

"They never gave up," Flowers said of the Eagles' players. "They never put their heads down."

"Having so many freshmen who have never played the game, we're going to work on the skills of the game," Aurora Christian coach Rich Hazlett said. "The girls have a great attitude. Even at 28-1, they're going into the bottom (of the fifth) trying to score. That's an attitude you can't beat."

Mercedes Nichols had 2 of the Eagles' 3 hits and scored the lone Aurora Christian run on a fourth-inning Mikala Woodfork single.