When Bishop McNamara’s Rhaya DePaolo broke a scoreless tie with a two-out double in the bottom of the third inning of the Fightin’ Irish’s season opener against Peotone on Monday, nobody at McNamara’s softball facility was happier than sophomore pitcher Joslynn Dole, who knew that one run of support might be all she needed.

“I was jumping up like, ‘Yeah, Rhaya,’” Dole said. “Love her, love that hit. It just brings you so much more confidence on the mound when we’re up.”

In a pitching matchup against one of the state’s top arms, Blue Devils ace Sophie Klawitter, Dole surrendered just two hits and went strikeout for strikeout with the Lousiville commit Klawitter, as both aces fanned 11 batters in a hard-fought 2-0 McNamara win.

“It was very productive,” new McNamara head coach Jenna Arseneau said of Monday’s all-around effort that saw Dole dominate, the defense support her with several nifty plays and the offense find some clutch hits. “We want to win every inning and backup our pitcher, which is easy to do when she has 11 strikeouts in a game.”

In McNamara’s opener and Peotone’s (0-2) second game, both pitchers worked around a baserunner apiece through each of the first two innings before DePaolo broke the ice.

After Maddy Weiland stole second, DePaolo fouled off five Klawitter offerings before she pulled a 2-2 offering and sent it off the left field fence to break the tie.

While it took her nine pitches to find fair territory, missing a home run by a couple feet, DePaolo didn’t watch a strike go by after Weiland swept second on the first pitch, knowing she needed to take advantage of anything hittable in the zone.

“I think you needed to attack early,” DePaolo said. “First pitch I usually jump on it. If it’s there I swing.”

After Dole was hit by a pitch with two outs in the sixth, courtesy runner Lily Goselin took second on a wild pitch and scored an insurance run on an Abbie Bysor on an opposite-field single to right. Dole returned to the rubber for a 1-2-3 seventh that gave the Irish a win and kicked off a new era under Arseneau, a former McNamara standout and 2016 graduate.

“It feels amazing,” Arseneau said. “You’re used to everything, you know everybody, but I definitely had a different sort of nervous excitement coming in today knowing we’re at the top of the totem pole. But I’m just excited with a bunch of girls that I’ve had, for some of them four years.”

The JV coach the past three years, Arseneau has plenty of familiarity with her team, and although the roster only has two seniors (Gabby Burnett and Reagan Kaner), Dole was a key piece of last year’s team, as were DePaolo, Vivian Dole and Camille Czako, three of the team’s seven juniors.

“I think a lot of us have a really good bond, and I think that’s a key part of the game,” DePaolo said. “To have that comfortability with each other, we know everyone has each other’s backs. And at the end of the day, we’re family.”

Weiland and DePaolo each had 2 for 3 days, with Vivian Dole and Bysor the only other Irish hitters to find hits against Klawitter, who didn’t walk a batter in her complete game.

Klawitter reached base twice herself, recording a single and a walk. Payton Schnelle had the other Peotone hit in a game that saw the Blue Devils fall a bit short, but inspire some confidence in coach Kim Pagliarulo.

“This is going to be our best season yet, not just with the talent, but we’re really coming together as a team, supporting each other, understanding what that does for a team,” Pagliarulo said. “It’s starting to click now. We saw it in this game, for sure. We’re going to have a blast.”