With one out in the fourth inning of the season opener for both Streator and host Marquette at June Gross Field in Ottawa, Crusaders sophomore Lily Brewer was down 1 and 2 in the count.

“I had two strikes on me, and I’d struck out my first at-bat, so my focus was just putting the ball in play,” Brewer said. “Honestly, I was just trying to get a base hit. The thought of hitting a home run wasn’t even in my mind. The pitch came in, really right down the middle and I just swung.”

Brewer’s towering drive cleared the fence in straightaway centerfield.

“Once I hit it, I knew I hit it good, but I actually thought I hit it too high,” Brewer said with a shy smile. “Luckily, despite it being more of a moon shot, it still went over the fence.”

The round tripper was the spark to an eight-run rally, and the hosts eventually posted a 10-0 victory in five innings over the Bulldogs.

Marquette took the lead for good in the bottom of the first as Hunter Hopkins coaxed a walk from Streator starting and losing pitcher Caitlin Talty (3⅓ IP, 2 H, 4 ER, 4 BB, 7 K), stole second, moved to third on a groundout and scored on a wild pitch.

“I thought that the girls came out ready to go,” Marquette coach Curtiss Johnson said. “We’ve talked all preseason about having discipline at the plate, not helping the opposing pitcher out by swinging at bad pitches. I thought today all through the lineup we were patient, waited for our pitch and when it was there put good swings on it.

“Lily’s homer was a spark, it really gave us momentum, and we were able to carry that for the rest of the game. We did a lot of the little things well, especially for our first game.”

After Brewer’s blast, Savannah Erickson singled and Chloe Thrush walked. Erickson then scored on an infield error before Melanie Gonzalez and Madisyn Trainor were walked by Bulldogs’ reliver Raegan Morgan (1⅓ IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 2 K).

Hopkins then lined an opposite field, base clearing double to left center to make it 7-0. Kelsey Cuchra then followed with a two-run homer that landed in nearly the same spot as Brewer’s.

The Crusaders ended the game with two outs in the fifth as Hopkins lined an RBI hit to score Gonzales who had been hit by a pitch and moved to second on a wild pitch.

Marquette starting and winning pitcher Kinley Rick held Streator to just two hits, while walking two and striking out seven. She fired 44 of her 66 pitches for strikes.

“Kinley was really on for us,” Johnson said. “She made a mistake with an 0-2 pitch to the first batter of the game, but she learned from it. She was using all her pitches well and had great command.”

Talty reached base twice with a double and a walk, while Kieran Black had the Bulldogs the other hit with a fifth inning single.

“This is a very young team we have experience wise,” Streator coach Louis Ondrey said. “We just played way to tight, so the message after the game was, we just need to loosen up and just play the game. These girls are all good softball players, so hopefully now that we’ve gotten this first game out of the way they can just relax and play.

“The biggest key for us at the plate was we just didn’t put the ball in play. Maybe it was nerves, but we were chasing everything, trying to kill the ball, and not being selective. This was a learning experience for a lot of them, but we’ll just keep on working to get better.”

Both sides are back in action on Friday as Streator travels to take on Metamora, while Marquette plays Riverdale at the Lenz Field Jamboree in Jacksonville.