Softball: Naperville Central rallies from 3 runs down, beats Benet in extra innings
Naperville Central pitcher Avery Miller wasn’t overly worried Thursday night when her team got down to host Benet 3-0 in the third inning.
She knew her teammates would have her back.
Sure enough, right on cue, the Redhawks rallied to tie the game at 3-3 and send it into extra innings.
Then the visitors plated a run in the top of the eighth, and Miller bore down, stranding two Benet runners in the bottom of the inning as Naperville Central came away with a 4-3 nonconference victory in Lisle.
“It was stressful,” said Miller of falling behind Benet early. “But I knew once we got back on offense, we could come back. It took some time, but we got there.
“It was just thrilling, knowing my teammates would (come through) with their hitting, their defense. I like close games like this because it gets my adrenaline going and gives me confidence. Everybody was on point today.”
Benet coach Janet Royal said that she thought her team was poised to rally after Naperville Central tied it up, but understood that her squad was up against a difficult opponent.
“It’s a tough loss, but we played well,” she said. “My assistant coach always tells me to look for the positives, and we played tough. One hit the other way, and we’re the winners, so we’ve got to keep our heads high.
“Honestly I thought we were going to pull it out. Twice we had the bases loaded with who we would want up at the plate. I thought we would get that one hit, but they (Naperville Central) did what they needed to do to get the win. Kudos to them.”
An RBI double from Lanie Rosner, then a 2-run homer from Avery Burns gave Benet the early lead.
Naperville Central (7-4) tied the game in the top of the sixth on a double from Bella Eaves (2 RBI), and a force out by Reese Henige that plated a run.
The Redhawks would have had more if not for a terrific effort by Benet shortstop Esther Rossi, who made a great play on a slow ground ball and raced to second base for a force out.
Unfortunately, Rossi aggravated an elbow injury on the play and had to leave the game.
“I hit it on a (Benet player’s) helmet, and had to come out of the game not to further injure it,” she said.
Benet (5-10) almost won the game in the bottom of the seventh, but Miller worked her way out of a bases-loaded jam to send the contest to extras.
And in the top of the eighth, Naperville Central junior Mae Binkowski raced home from third base on a passed ball to score what proved to be the winning run.
“Coach (Andy Nussbaum) told me that if I saw a ball get past the catcher, and it didn’t hit the bricks (behind the plate), to go for it. It just slipped past her, so I went for it. It was a split second decision — I just told myself, ‘I’m going’.”
Miller got out of trouble in the bottom of the eighth, striking out the final Benet batter on what she called a backdoor curve.
“We had a good start, we were holding them down,” said Benet’s Rossi. “But once we got the lead we slowed down on offense and defense. We’ve got to keep the momentum going forward, but overall it was still a good game.”
And along with the joy of getting a come-from-behind win, Redhawks pitcher Miller said there was one more motivating factor that pushed her team to victory.
“When we win road games,” she said, “we always do DQ (Dairy Queen) on the way back. It’s a tradition, and on the bus ride home, everybody’s happy and it’s nice to have that team chemistry.”