Benet stops Downers South

Benet’s single-season doubles leader, sophomore Maeve McGuire, doesn’t need much help reaching base.

She got it, though, hit by the first pitch of Saturday’s softball game against Downers Grove South at the Class 4A Oswego East sectional final.

That led to a 2-run first inning, and with Redwings right-handed pitcher Allyson Staats dealing a 3-hitter it was all fifth-seeded Benet needed in a 5-0 win over No. 2 Downers Grove South.

Winning its first sectional title since 2005, Benet (29-10) advances to the Hinsdale South supersectional at 4:30 p.m. Monday against Richards, a 1-0 winner Saturday over Mother McAuley.

“It’s a free pass, so I’ll always take those if they give them to me,” said McGuire, the sophomore right fielder who went 3-for-3 and scored 4 runs. Her 2 doubles Saturday gave her 24 and brought Benet’s total to 108, two more than O’Fallon registered in 1998.

“I think it just really kind of started our rally,” McGuire said. “I think it did start us up, that first inning.”

McGuire scampered to third on Kendall Duffy’s sacrifice bunt, then scored on Staats’ double that one-hopped the left-field fence. Staats moved to third on a ground single by McGuire’s sister, senior Nora. A second hit batter loaded the bases, and Shellie Schaffer made it 2-0 by drawing a walk to score Staats.

“That set the tone a little bit,” said hall of fame Downers South coach Ron Havelka, whose Mustangs finished 28-7.

“Unfortunately that hurt us, it dug us a little hole,” he said. “We got out of there fairly cheap with only two runs, it could have been worse. (Aleisha) Bozek came in and struck out two batters to end that inning, but bottom line, we couldn’t muster any offense to get back into the game.”

Mustangs senior center fielder Marissa Mersch, who entered the game with 250 career hits, 2 shy of the state record, was 0-for-3 with a walk in four plate appearances.

“I didn’t really get too many good pitches. I tried to make contact as best as I could,” said the Wisconsin-bound leadoff hitter.

The Staats-Mersch duel peaked in the bottom of the fifth inning. With Benet up 4-0, Downers South’s Jackie Tonoff singled and Kristina Airdo doubled to put runners on second and third with no outs.

Mersch took two strikes then worked the count to 2-2 before hitting a chopper to Benet first baseman Nora McGuire for the out. Staats (27-9) coaxed a popout and grounder to escape unscathed, then allowed only a harmless walk over the next two innings.

“I knew that (catcher) Kendall was going to call the right pitches, I knew that if I hit my spots that we could get out of it,” said Staats, who also drove in 2 runs with a pair of doubles. “Coach (Jerry Schilf) came out on the mound and he was like, ‘Don’t worry about it, guys.’ I remember he was the one freaking out, and I was saying, like, ‘Guys, we’ve got this, be confident.’”

As for Schilf, while he spoke with reporters his players showered him with the icy contents of the water bucket. Stunned and initially speechless, his next comment fit the victory.

“I’ll take it.”