Benet blanks Geneva in season opener

For those used to dressing for softball season-openers like they're the Iditarod dog sled race, Saturday's sunny warmth provided the best setting for Geneva's contest with Benet.

Benet starter Meghan Eastman proceeded to pour ice water on the home faithful for the 90-minute contest. Eastman (1-0) allowed only 1 hit and struck out 14 while helping post the Redwings to a 4-0 victory over the Vikings in the first game of 2009 for both teams.

"I think it's a great start," Eastman said. "We still have a few things we can work on. But it's a good starting point."

Eastman only walked 2 in the game and had just one sticky inning. That came in the sixth, when Geneva loaded the bases with two outs before Eastman retired the side.

"I felt pretty good," Eastman said. "I know my teammates are there if I need them. It felt good. The one inning, we just got a little flustered."

Geneva had three baserunners through the first five innings, and none of those reached second. Kelly McCaffrey walked in the second, Deidre Phalon walked in the fourth and Amy Hersheway reached on a dropped third strike in the fifth.

But the Vikings nearly got on the board in the sixth. Danielle Caprile started the rally with a blooper that landed just onto the outfield grass in left field. Caprile stole second and Phalon reached on an infield error. Melissa Barber also reached on a fielder's choice, with Phalon sliding safely into second as the Redwings committed their second error of the inning. Rachel Hunter popped out to end the inning.

"It was nice that we had an inning where we felt like we threatened them a little bit," Geneva coach Greg Dierks said. "We got some baserunners. Melissa Barber came right up and had a nice rip; she fouled the first pitch straight back. Those are the kind of swings I like to see."

Phalon and Hersheway each reached base twice for the Vikings.

Benet got all the runs it needed with a 3-run fourth inning. With one out, Nora McGuire and Shelly Schaeffer reached on back-to-back walks. Allison Staats hit an RBI double and Lindsey Rohan followed with a single to deep right that scored Staats and Schaeffer.

Starts and Rohan each went 2-for-3 in the game.

Benet's other run came in the top of the seventh. Lauren Landowski led off with a single and eventually scored on Courtney Makowski's single to left.

"I told the girls we have a whole week to work on things," Benet coach Jerry Schilf said. "We did some good things out there, but we showed we have some things to work on too. But we have a week to work on things feeling good about ourselves because we won the game."