With Liv Lathen’s wheels, the Yorkville junior shortstop always has the green light to lay down a bunt.

No sign needed.

“It was my call,” Lathen said. “The coaches, they know I do that sometimes. Last game I bunted for a hit and they scored me.

“I’ve been fast my whole life. I trust myself and trust I can get the bunt down.”

The Foxes had the need for Lathen’s speed in a tie game with Benet Friday and one out in the bottom of the eighth.

Lathen beat out a bunt up the first base line, and took third as Callie Ferko reached base on a low throw on another bunt.

And then Lathen beat the throw home on Kayla Kersting’s grounder up the middle as the Foxes beat Benet 3-2.

The Foxes (9-5) were held at bay for much of Friday’s game, just five hits through seven innings, by Benet’s Noel Klody, a tall sophomore lefty.

Lathen, a Lindenwood commit, was 0 for 3 her first three times up with two pop ups and a strikeout.

So Lathen dropped down the first pitch she saw in the eighth for the bunt.

“I decided that I wasn’t really doing so hot my first three at-bats, I’m just going to get on base and believe in my teammates to get me in,” Lathen said.

Yorkville coach Jory Regnier believes in Lathen’s speed, and her softball brains, to make the right call to bunt.

“She reads the first baseman sometimes and I let her know it’s OK to make that decision. Certain kids that I know are quick and can lay one down, they have the green light,” Regnier sad. “Liv is so good at taking it down the first base line. It’s so hard for a catcher to get to and she’s fast.”

Yorkville resorted to a lot of bunting late, even from unlikely sources.

Kersting, Yorkville’s cleanup hitter and an Iowa commit, bunted for a hit in the sixth, and No. 3 hitter Ferko got the sign with Lathen on first.

“Trying to get something going,” Regnier said. “That last one, keeping things rolling. At that point the pressure is on them to make plays. Worst case, we have a runner on second base. Either way is going to set Kayla up to get the winning run in.”

Little ball was called for the way Klody was dealing. She struck out six and allowed just six hits and one walk.

“She had a little bit of a rise on her ball, and she was consistent,” Regnier said. “She wasn’t fast but the ball came out of her hand quick.”

Benet (3-9), which snapped an eight-game losing streak with a win over Naperville North Wednesday, would love to get more of the same out of Klody going forward.

The Redwings have been without their best pitcher – and one of their best hitters – in Omaha commit Sophie Rosner since the season’s second game with a pulled muscle in her back.

“That was probably her best game so far this season,” Benet coach Janet Royal said. “She was hitting her spots, mixing in her changeup well and she just looked dominating. Her being so tall I think the ball looks like it’s coming in lower and it comes in higher. It’s a different look.”

Good for Royal and the Redwings they still have Rosner’s twin Lanie, a Southern Illinois commit.

The senior catcher singled her first two at-bats, and drilled a booming double in the fifth to score Despina Patos for a 2-1 Benet lead. Rosner worked a nine-pitch walk in the seventh.

“Lanie, she very rarely strikes out. She is going to put the ball in play and hard,” Royal said. “It was a great game. It could have gone either way.”

Alyssa Muhlbach’s RBI single for Yorkville in the bottom of the fifth tied it 2-2.

Benet had a golden opportunity to break through in the top of the eighth, as Klody hit a sinking liner past the right fielder for a leadoff triple.

But Yorkville’s Ellie Fox kept the runner at third with two groundouts to Lathen sandwiched around a strikeout.

“Just focus on the batter and not worry about the runner,” Fox said. “I just focus on hitting my spots and breathing and trust my teammates to make plays.”

Benet had five leadoff runners reach base, including each of the last three innings. But only in the first inning did that runner score.

Yorkville pitchers Bella Rosauer, who threw the first five-plus innings, and Fox combined for 10 strikeouts while limiting the damage of eight hits and four walks.

“Awesome job,” Regnier said. “They are very complementary of each other. Completely different styles, something that will continue to help us down the road.”