Softball: Burlington Central outlasts Richmond-Burton

With the big test being the playoffs quickly approaching the Burlington Central softball team took a little practice quiz on Thursday to prepare for the final exam.

The Rockets passed with flying colors as they defeated a tough visiting Richmond-Burton team and hard-throwing pitcher Sophie Schwegel 3-1 in Kishwaukee River Conference action.

The victory also keeps Central's hopes for the KRC title alive. The Rockets (13-5, 7-2) currently trail Marengo by 2 games in the loss column with 3 games to play, including a head-to-head meeting against the current front-runners on Monday.

"This is a really good win for us," Central coach Erica Snyder said. "Richmond-Burton is a good team and their pitcher is one of the better ones we have faced all year. You want to be going up against this type of competition at this point of the season to get ready for the regionals. I thought we played very well."

It took a turn through the batting order for the Rockets to catch up to Schwegel, but they broke through for a run in the third inning on an RBI single from Danielle Yurgil that scored Sarah Kinney, who had led off with single.

After R-B tied the score at 1-1 the Rockets pulled ahead for good with 2 runs in the fifth inning. An RBI double to right-center by Julia Barnes gave Central the lead 2-1. Reili Gardner (2-for-3) followed with an RBI single.

"We've been use to seeing slower pitching lately, so we had to make the adjustment," Barnes said. "She wasn't coming inside much so coach told us to start taking the outside pitches the other way. I just waited back on my hit and drove it to right-center. It was a good win. We seem to be clicking as a team more now."

The 3 runs were more than enough for Central starting pitcher Alisyn Catenacci, who surrendered just 1 run on 6 hits through 5⅔ innings. She also had 6 strikeouts and did not walk a batter.

"It was a good game," Catenacci said. "Everything was working. I was able to keep their timing off with my changeup and the defense was solid behind me. They made some tough plays to help me out."

Barnes closed out the game pitching a scoreless final inning-and-a-third.

"I wanted to mix it with our two pitchers to see how a team would react to the different speeds," Snyder said. "It worked out really well. Alysyn pitched great. Her change up was fantastic. Then Julia came in throwing at a different speed and kept them off their toes."