Softball: St. Viator dumps Hoffman in opener

High school softball in the Northwest suburbs officially commenced for the 2018-19 season on Tuesday.

Playing on the artificial infield carpet and a grass outfield at Melas Park in Mt. Prospect, host St. Viator had its offense well groomed for the conditions.

The Lions topped visiting Hoffman Estates 13-4 in the chilly mid-40 temperatures for the final innings.

"It was freezing," said Lions senior Cece Kaiser, whose bat was hot with a triple and a single. "And it was a long game. We're lucky we got to play on the turf field. It wasn't that bad expect for the cold."

It wasn't a bad sophomore pitching debut for Gianna Saverino, who earned the win and also went 3-for-3 at the plate with a sacrifice fly.

"I'm excited about our hitting," added second baseman Kaiser, a co-captain along with classmate Maggie VanValkenburg. "We have a ton of good young hitters coming up this year. I'm really excited for the season."

Lions coach John Scotillo was excited to see his young team in its first game.

"It was worth the cold weather to get the first one in," he said. "Especially after being down in the first inning (2-1). We tied it in the bottom of the second inning and then had the big inning (6-run bottom of the fourth)."

Freshman Cassidy Gibson belted a home run for Viator while VanValkenburg doubled.

"It was a great start," Scotillo added. "I'm really happy with our freshmen and our sophomore Gianna."

Hoffman Estates coach Lindsey Hamma was happy about the debut of the freshman battery of pitcher Ryan Cloherty and catcher Gracie Velasquez.

"I thought our freshmen really came out and made a difference," Hamma said. "They really stepped up, came out with a positive attitude, did everything we asked of them and played really hard.

"It's nice when your younger kids are leading by example."

Velasquez and senior Ayanna Ward each doubled for the Hawks while Cloherty singled.

"For our first game, we saw a lot of things that we can now focus a little more on in practice," Hamma said. "We can practice with more purpose so we can come out better our next game."