’Canes gain shot of confidence

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WOODSTOCK – The celebration was tempered Monday because Marian Central’s softball team has bigger plans.

The Hurricanes, seeded fourth in the IHSA Class 3A Woodstock North Regional, beat fifth-seeded Woodstock, 4-2, in a play-in game to advance and set up a showdown with top-seeded Prairie Ridge at 4:30 p.m. today in a regional semifinal. So despite being grateful to play another day, Marian’s afternoon wasn’t over.

“We’re heading to talk about Prairie Ridge right now,” senior shortstop Kaitlyn Bliss said.

At the start of the season, first-year coach Rick Cartwright said his team would be aggressive and scrap for a postseason run.

That run, Bliss said, starts now.

“I think beating Woodstock was a boost to our confidence,” she said. “We’ll go pretty hard tomorrow. We know [Prairie Ridge’s] pitchers are fast, so we just have to figure out what kind of game we can play against them, either the short game or the long game.”

Marian (11-11) posted scored single runs in the third and fourth and broke a 2-2 tie with two runs in the fifth.

All of Marian’s runs came off hard-hit balls and outfield errors.

Marian junior Jenny Behler led off the third with a single to right center and came home on a one-out error to give the ’Canes a 1-0 advantage; Bliss scored Marian’s second run when she came home on another outfield fielding error to make it a 2-0 game in the bottom of the fourth.

Woodstock (8-22) tied the score at 2 in the top of the fifth, loading the bases on starter Kat Landers with one out. Junior Courtney Einecker relieved Landers and issued a walk to Woodstock senior Katie Orndahl, who picked up the RBI and put the Blue Streaks on the board trailing, 2-1.

Kalah Martin’s single to shallow center drove in Abby Haubold.

“I am glad we fought back, got two runs, tied the game up,” said Woodstock coach Steve Beard, “but we had too many physical errors.”

The ’Canes scored the go-ahead runs off two more Woodstock miscues in the bottom of the fifth. Mary Belluomini reached on an outfield error, and Lead Diaz doubled to right center, scoring Belluomini. Diaz scored, too, when the Streaks had trouble fielding the ball.

Einecker pitched the ’Canes out of trouble in the seventh when Woodstock – which stranded 11 runners – had runners on first and second with one out.

“It was kind of hard to begin with,” said Einecker, whose team played an error-free game. “After a while, though, we kind of got going and really came together as a team and worked it out.”

Beard said his seniors brought his program together this year.

“Anytime you can walk away from a season and know every teammate cares about one another, that’s really important,” he said. “They care about each other, representing their school, and about winning. ... It was the seniors that really took us through a tough season.”