Bishop McNamara defeats Peotone for first win of season

PEOTONE − After struggling to produce runs in a season-opening loss Saturday, the Bishop McNamara softball team came into Monday’s road matchup against Peotone aiming to generate more offense.

The Fightin' Irish managed to find success, recording 11 hits and drawing six walks in a 6-2 win over the Blue Devils to improve to 1-1 on the season. Peotone, coming off a win in their opener last Tuesday, fell to 1-1.

McNamara head coach Alee Rashenskas said she was pleased with the team’s ability to score more effectively on Monday.

“We talked a lot about having to manufacture runs after our first game on Saturday, and I think we executed that better,” she said. “Putting the ball in play and giving us an opportunity to push runs across, it’s good to see that work pay off in our first season win.”

McNamara was able to start scoring runs early. Teagan McCue opened the game with a walk before stealing second, advancing to third on a dropped third strike and the scoring on a passed ball to put the Irish up 1-0. Rhaya DePaolo then singled, advanced to second on a passed ball, stole third and was then driven in on a single by Bridget Bertrand.

The Irish went up 3-0 in the third inning on a DePaolo double. Peotone got on the board with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth, the first on an RBI groundout from Caelan Farmer and then second coming when Ava Kosmos scored on a wild pitch.

McNamara got one of those runs back in the top of the fifth on a bases-loaded walk drawn by Morgan Niedzwiedz. They added two more insurance runs in the sixth when McCue and DePaolo scored on an error.

DePaolo finished the game 4 of 5 at the plate with an RBI and three runs scored. She said that she felt the team did a better job being aggressive Monday.

“I think we tried to jump on it the best we could,” she said. “I think we had better approaches this game than last game.”

McCue was 2 for 3 with two walks and two runs scored, while Bertrand was 2 for 4 with three RBIs. Joslynn Dole got the win, allowing five hits over seven innings and recording nine strikeouts.

Peotone’s Sophie Klawitter, after a 17 strikeout, two-hit shutout in last week’s opener, had 14 more strikeouts across seven innings Monday. She was also 1 for 2 with a double and a walk. Jillian Roark was 1 for 3 with a double while Farmer was 1 for 3 with an RBI.

Peotone head coach Kim Pagliarulo said there were some improvements she saw her team make Monday, but there were a few factors that she felt led to the team losing its edge on a chilly and windy afternoon.

“I think the cold showed, and I think the girls were slow to get to the ball,” she said. “I think it’s the weather, and also we’re on spring break, so I think our heads weren’t in the game. We’ve definitely played better ball than that.”

Still, Pagliarulo said she likes what she has seen from the team overall this season as they continue to make adjustments.

“We’re working on a lot of different things on the hitting side,” she said. “It’s only our second game and we’re already seeing that in live play, which we’re excited about to see where the season is going to go from there. We have a lot of new players up on varsity that haven’t seen this type of pitching yet, so we’re seeing some progress from them as well.”

For McNamara, the team is skewing a bit younger this season that in recent years. Rashenskas said that it has been nice to see the team build chemistry early.

“We have a much younger group than we’ve had in the past, so it’s fun to see how the younger girls are meshing with the older girls and how the older girls are kind of taking them under their wing, playing together as a team and really relying on each other to get the job done,” she said.