Molini’s a hit, but Prospect drops opener to Glenbrook S.
Prospect senior Michele Molini is headed to Wisconsin-Whitewater this fall.
She’ll be shooting basketballs, likely many from 3-point range, into the basket.
For now, she is spraying softballs into the outfield.
The third baseman was the only Knight to hit the ball out of the infield on Thursday when Prospect opened it 2013 softball season with a 6-2 loss to visiting Glenbrook South at Melas Park in Mt. Prospect.
Batting cleanup, Molini went 2-for-3 with a single to center in the first and a base hit to left to lead off the fourth.
She made it all the way to third on her single in the first because of an error which allowed freshman Delilah Malczewski to score from first base for a 1-0 lead.
But the Titans came up with 4 runs in the bottom half of the inning and went on to even their record at 1-1 behind a 4-hitter and 6 strikeouts from right-hander Katie Rossman (1-1).
After her second hit, Molini came home on an error in the fourth inning which made it 4-2 before Glenbrook South added a pair of insurance runs in the seventh.
“We’ve got a lot of new players (to the varsity) and we are trying to ease their nerves,” said Molini, referring to the Knights’ starting lineup on Saturday which consisted of two freshman, three sophomores, two juniors and two seniors. “We just need to be consistent with our hitting. Our fielding was good (no errors). We’ve been focusing on defense. We have to work on putting hits together on offense.”
The Knights’ other 2 hits were a two-out bunt single by freshman Rachel Trebswether in the fifth inning and an one-out infield hit by senior Jill Sadowski in the fourth inning.
Junior Michelle Korf (3 strikeouts) worked the first four innings while lefty freshman Delilah Malczewski made her varsity debut by pitching the final three innings.
“Delilah will be good with the more time she gets,” said Knights coach Jim Adair. “She throws the ball hard.
“The girls took the loss hard. They’ve been working hard to get ready the last few weeks.”
Adair like his team’s defense.
“We’ve been working on defense so that (no errors) was encouraging,” he said. “We didn’t give them anything. Last year, balls would be hit right at us and we were our own worst enemy. Glenbrook South is a good team. They hit the ball (10 hits). We opened the door for them and they went right through it.”
One of the Knights’ defensive highlights came when junior shortstop Emma Riordan fielded a ball off the glove of Molini and threw to first baseman Malczewski for the final out of the third inning.
Titans third baseman Yassie Giliana had a busy day, collecting 6 assists and a putout on Riordan’s line drive in the fifth inning.
Giliana also produced at that plate, going 3-for-4 with a double and 2 runs.
“Yassie did a great job at third and had nice at-bats,” said Titans coach Kay Sopocy, whose team’s loss was 4-1 to Limestone High School (Bartonville) in a Peoria tournament. “We got good pitching and Jordan Davis (double) did a nice job behind the plate. I thought we gained energy and had a little more intensity as the game went on.”