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Rurka leads Benet offense in shutout victory
Updated: May 9, 2011 10:09PM
It took a freshman to awaken Benet’s offense in Monday’s 6-0 Redwings win over visiting St. Viator, but once the bats got going, there was no stopping the home team’s offense.
Julianne Rurka (2-for-2, 2 RBI) went deep with one out in the second inning with the go-ahead home run. She later added an RBI single on a well-struck grounder up the middle in the third for a 4-0 lead and walked in the fifth.
Rurka has three homers this season. Her latest blast came when she sat on a fastball after seeing a changeup on the first pitch of the at-bat and landed over the wall in left-center.
The Redwings went on to score three runs in the second and never looked back. With the win, they improved to 18-9 overall and 8-5 (third place) in the East Suburban Catholic Conference.
“Julianne’s home run kind of loosened things up a little bit and after that, I thought we played a very solid game,” Benet coach Jerry Schilf said.
He was not happy with the Redwings’ 1-2-3 first-inning showing but said the team swung at better pitches following the home run.
“Hitting’s contagious for any team, and it definitely helped today,” Rurka said of the bomb.
Indeed, Shellie Schaffer followed by reaching on a two-base error and with two outs, Marissa Panko benefited from an error by Lions pitcher Julie Sweeney (9-12), who bobbled a ball back to the mound that enabled the Redwings to plate their second run.
Ninth-place hitter Ali Michalik ripped a run-scoring double to cap the scoring in the frame.
Doubles by Maeve McGuire and starting pitcher Allyson Staats helped Benet add two insurance runs in the sixth. McGuire’s two-out double turned into a run when Kendall Duffy singled, and Staats’ double coupled with an error by Lions left fielder Tess Kaiser produced a 6-0 cushion.
St. Viator (10-16, 2-9 ESCC) managed two hits while committing three errors. Sweeney allowed eight hits in six innings, striking out three. Her spotty control (four walks) and porous defense (three unearned runs of six total) didn’t help matters.
“I think our offensive execution could have been better,” St. Viator coach Dan Twarog said. “We’ve played better offensively and that’s what we’re going to need to do when we play them Wednesday.”
Staats (16-8) dazzled with seven strikeouts in a complete-game shutout. Her only walk came against the first batter of the game. She set down 13 of the final 14 Lions hitters.
“Allyson was very solid, but we do come to expect that from her,” Schilf said.
The teams square off Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. in Arlington Heights.
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