Johnson, Larkin open with win over Dundee-Crown
There's nothing like a big first inning to get the season off to a good start.
That's what the Larkin softball team got Friday, when the Royals scored 5 runs in the first inning and then used stellar pitching and defense to defeat Dundee-Crown 5-1 at Larkin in the season opener for both teams.
The Royals used efficient 2-strike hitting to gain their early advantage. Of the 6 hits Larkin got off Dundee-Crown sophomore Melany Love in the bottom of the first, four of them came with 2 strikes on the batter.
"Our batting practice is done with two strikes," said Larkin coach Larry Hight, now in his 15th season and just 14 wins shy of 300 for his career. "We only had one called third strike today and that was our nemesis last year. They battled with two strikes and got some good hits."
Corinne Wimmer (2 hits) led off the bottom of the first for the Royals by beating out a tap in front of the plate. After she stole second, she scored on Lexi Smithberg's 2-strike single to left field and with one out, Alex Buhrow singled on a 2-2 pitch to drive in Smithberg, who took second on the throw home off her single. Anna Esterino singled to center, Buhrow stopping at third. With Nikki Banks at the plate, D-C tried to pick Esterino off first and made an error on the play, allowing Buhrow to score. Keley Lodge then doubled Esterino home and Lodge scored the fifth and final run of the inning on Kiernan Schock's single.
"That was a good start for a few of these kids who were playing their first varsity game," Hight said.
From that point, Larkin junior Megan Johnson took over from the circle, allowing the Chargers just 5 hits. She struck out five and walked only one.
"It was a good way to start," said Johnson, who is playing with a torn labrum she suffered during the volleyball season that she said she plans to have surgically repaired this summer.
"My drop ball is off speed and they didn't really see it coming. There's some pain but I just push through it."
Said Hight: "Megan's a gamer. She really battled today."
Johnson also had errorless defense behind her. Schock and Erica Schoening each made fine shoestring catches in the outfield for the Royals.
Love shut the Royals down after the first inning, allowing just 3 hits the rest of the game. She struck out nine and didn't walk anyone.
"It was just a bad first inning,"said Dundee-Crown coach Tracy Beatty. "(Love) threw 36 pitches in the first inning but she did a great job after that and we settled down defensively. We made good hard contact and we were aggressive in the batters box, we just hit them at somebody."
The Chargers scored their only run in the second inning. Brittany Flynn led off with a walk, took second on a passed ball, third on a wild pitch and scored on Linnea Bettcher's bloop single to left.
D-C also mounted a threat with two outs in the sixth when Tiffany Rawlinson (2-for-3) singled and Love blooped a double to left but Johnson got Flynn to pop out to short to end the inning.