Neuqua Valley stuns top-seeded Benet

Neuqua Valley’s Jamie O’Brien twirled a 3-hit gem, becoming the first pitcher to shut out Benet this season, and the No. 9 seed Wildcats stunned the No. 1 and second-ranked Redwings 1-0 in Saturday’s Class 4A Plainfield South regional final.

O’Brien (13-10) struck out two for Neuqua (22-15), which had lost to Benet 17-10 in its season opener exactly two months prior to Saturday. The Wildcats, who advance to play Plainfield Central, scored the game’s only run in the fifth. Katie Cruse singled off Benet pitcher Molly Moran’s glove to score Megan Hannigan. Moran allowed 5 hits for Benet (32-5).

Plainfield East 5, Naperville Central 4:

Plainfield East scored 2 runs in the top of the seventh to knock off the No. 2 seed Redhawks at the Class 4A Romeoville regional. Winning pitcher Annie Molek drove in the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly and Fran Giovani had the tying double for the Bengals (22-11). Kaitlyn Skarecky doubled, tripled and drove in a pair of runs for Naperville Central (26-10), which had gone ahead 4-3 with a run in the fifth.

Naperville North 5, Lockport 3:

Kailee Budicin went 3-for-4 with a double and drove in 2 runs for the No. 6 seed Huskies (23-12), who jumped on No. 3 Lockport with 4 runs in the top of the fifth at the Class 4A Plainfield North regional.

West Chicago 2, Downers Grove North 1:

The No. 11 seed Wildcats (24-12) scored 2 unearned runs in the top of the 13th, then weathered Sam Yeager’s solo homer in the bottom half to upset the No. 3 seed Trojans (30-7) at the Class 4A Geneva regional. Katie Wiest went all the way on the mound to get the win for West Chicago.

Lisle 5, North Boone 2:

Kellie Brennan went 2-for-3 with an RBI and Kelly Urban drove in 2 runs for Lisle (30-3) in the Class 2A Genoa-Kingston sectional final. Melanie Early (22-2) struck out nine for the Lions, who advance to play Sherrard in Monday’s supersectional in DeKalb.

Glenbard South 12, Queen of Peace 0:

Stephanie Chitkowski (14-2) struck out 12 in a two-hitter, and Danielle Chitkowski homered for the Raiders (32-4) in the Class 3A Queen of Peace regional final. Olivia Ramirez went 3-for-3 with 2 RBI for Glenbard South.

York 5, Hinsdale South 4:

Rachel Gentile’s bases-loaded walk scored Danielle Morency with what proved to be the game-winning run, as the No. 13 seed Dukes (18-18) rallied for 3 runs in the top of the sixth to knock off the No. 5 Hornets in the Class 4A Hinsdale South regional final. Sarah Milkowski was 2-for-3 with 2 runs scored and Gracie Sullivan had a triple and a run for York, which trailed 4-2 going into the sixth. Sabrina Kuchta was 2-for-2 with an RBI and Dana Capocci 2-for-4 with an RBI for Hinsdale South (23-12), which stranded 10 baserunners and two thrown out at the plate in the fourth.