Softball: Oswego denies Benet in regional final Jaelynn Anthony has the velocity to rack up the strikeouts.

Jaelynn Anthony has the velocity to rack up the strikeouts.

Her numbers can attest to that. The Oswego senior and Purdue recruit in April became the program’s career strikeout leader with her 496th.

But missed bats aren’t Anthony’s only strategy in the circle.

“The game plan is always pitch to mishit, to miss barrels,” Oswego coach Annie Scaramuzzi said. “The strikeouts just come because of how hard she throws. But our game plan is to avoid barrels.”

Anthony followed that formula to Oswego’s third straight regional title Friday.

She struck out seven batters and also induced 12 ground ball outs. Oswego capitalized on six Benet errors for a 5-0 win in the Class 4A Oswego regional final.

Defending state champion Oswego (19-11) advances to face Saturday’s Naperville Central-Plainfield North winner in a sectional semifinal Wednesday at Yorkville.

“I don’t really know what to say,” Anthony said. “Exciting. We worked for this.”

Anthony kept her infielders busy Friday, and they were flawless until an error with one out in the seventh. Anthony walked the next two batters, but retired the final two to preserve the shutout.

“They were lights-out,” Anthony said. “We did very well staying down on the ball, worked on that in practice. It showed today.”

Anthony only allowed one hit, a solid single by Nebraska-Omaha commit Sophia Rosner leading off the second. Rosner was eventually thrown out at the plate trying to score from third on a passed ball.

“I thought Jae was great,” Scaramuzzi said. “She did a great job attacking the zone, trusting her defense behind her. And she made big pitches. I thought she got stronger as the game went on.”

Indeed she did.

Anthony, who did not pitch in Oswego’s 8-2 loss to Benet the second game of the season, retired 11 straight batters after a two-out walk in the fourth.

“I was on a roll,” Anthony said. “I was ready.”

Oswego scored the game’s first run in the third. The inning’s first two batters reached on errors, and Betsy Jack’s RBI groundout drove one in.

Two more errors sandwiched around a Kennedy Gengler double over the right fielder brought in two more runs in the fourth, making it 3-0.

Benet sophomore pitcher Noel Klody allowed just five hits in the game, four coming in the sixth inning, with one walk while striking out five.

“We beat ourselves,” Benet coach Janet Royal said. “Noel pitched phenomenal. She was making them put the ball in play. We just had too many errors. We weren’t helping her out.”

If the Redwings (19-17) looked disjointed in the field, it was that kind of season. Benet has been hit hard by injuries. Rosner missed time earlier in the spring. Senior leadoff hitter Gianna Cunningham, who was batting over .400, missed the last two weeks with a finger injury.

“We’ve had so many different injuries, illness, switches, we’re all playing different positions, so that’s what happens,” Royal said. “You have different girls playing different positions, it happens.”

Oswego tacked on two runs in the sixth. Gengler, Brynn Broughton and Ellalina Mahoney singled, and Adalynn Fugitt singled in two runs.

“They did a great job of keeping pressure the whole game. Something we had struggled with in the Naperville North [regional semifinal] game was we couldn’t get those clutch hits,” Scaramuzzi said. “I thought they did a great job of executing our small ball.”

While her team couldn’t muster any runs, Royal could not fault their approach.

“I have nothing,” Royal said. “I told them don’t keep your heads down. They put the ball in play. We weren’t striking out. They were just making plays on their side.”