McGuire sets the tone

The last thing first baseman Nora McGuire and her Benet teammates wanted to do was let a young pitcher off the hook.

St. Francis freshman hurler Laura Behnke hit a pair of batters and walked another to find herself in a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the first inning of Saturday's Game 1 with the host Redwings. Behnke, making her first varsity start, got the second out on a harmless pop up and then got ahead of McGuire 1-2.

But just when it looked like Behnke might escape without any damage, McGuire laced a 3-run triple to the wall in right center for a 3-0 lead. The clutch hit sparked Benet to a 10-0, 6-inning triumph that evened its mark at 3-3 on the season heading into the nightcap.

"It gave me some confidence and it helped the team to start hitting better," McGuire said of her first high school triple. "That hit helped us with momentum and it helped us stay together out there."

Behnke (0-1) did not pitch as poorly as the final score might indicate, but Redwings starter Meghan Eastman took the early lead and ran with it. Eastman (2-2) blanked the Spartans on just 2 hits while striking out 7 batters in 6 innings.

"The past couple games we've been hitting well and that makes it easier to pitch," said Eastman, who did not allow a St. Francis runner to reach third base. "We played well as a team and we didn't really have any weak parts to our game today."

Benet coach Jerry Schilf was glad to see McGuire's big hit for a number of reasons.

"She's one of our freshmen and it was great to see her come through when we needed it," he said. "And it's a big difference (if we don't score in the first). After that we chipped away and we started hitting better."

Benet built its lead to 9-0 after 5 innings with back-to-back 3-run outbursts in the fourth and the fifth. Christina Jablonski had a 2-run single in the fourth and a pop fly infield single in the fifth that dropped in to make the score 7-0.

The Redwings ended the game in the bottom of the sixth when pinch-runner Lauren Ladowski scored on Kelsey Gallo's deep single to left that made it a 10-run game.

"We made a couple mistakes, but I give them credit for putting the pressure on," St. Francis coach Ralph Remus said. "And I don't think we hit the ball that poorly, but their pitcher did a nice job and their defense played well."

In Game 2 of the doubleheader, the Redwings won 10-0 in five innings over the Spartans, who dropped to 2-2.