Glenbard East’s Claire Bolda perfect in win over Glenbard South

GLEN ELLYN – Glenbard East sophomore pitcher Claire Bolda will go down as having thrown a perfect game against Glenbard South on Thursday.

Bolda didn’t allow a baserunner in a game that lasted five innings because the Rams had a 10-0 lead on the Raiders at that point. The slaughter rule went into effect for this Upstate Eight Conference battle once Bolda fanned Delaney Spontak for the 15th and final out.

Bolda dominated for the Rams (5-1, 3-0). She struck out 10 hitters, including the first seven she faced. The Raiders (1-3, 1-1) were kept off balance from the moment she took the rubber.

“I’m just trusting myself, trusting my stuff, my spins,” Bolda said. “I know (my teammates have) got my back.”

Bolda got all the support she needed and then some during a third inning in which 11 Glenbard East batters came to the plate. They scored eight runs on five hits, two sacrifice bunts, two walks and a failed fielder’s choice.

The first run came across when Marley Szeluga, who led off the third with a single, promptly scored on a Lilly Carter RBI double. Later in the inning, Szeluga had an RBI triple, then scored on a wild pitch.

Carter also drove in the first of two fifth-inning runs for the Rams on an RBI single. She then helped the second of those runs score as part of a double steal. While she took second, Amelia Clifford came home to round out the game’s scoring.

“They come every day to get better,” Glenbard East coach Dawn Chantos said. “And they are coachable, and we work on stuff, and they execute it. And that’s the No. 1 thing: the team chemistry and their work ethic.”

Through all the evening’s frustrations, Glenbard South stuck with pitcher Brooke Lange through all five innings. Despite giving up seven hits, she also had six strikeouts.

“Brooke, she’s my No. 1 pitcher,” said Raiders coach Julie Fonda. “Unless she comes to me and says, ‘I don’t have it left in me,’ then she’s gonna be on the mound, and I have confidence in her.”

Lange also had extra motivation to keep going as long as she could because Chantos is her aunt.

“It’s an emotional game for me because we’re very close,” Chantos said. “And I love her, and she’s a great pitcher herself. So she also pitched a great game, so I’m proud of her.”

The closest the Raiders got to a baserunner came with two outs in the third when Hannah Grandsard tried to beat out a grounder that Bolda fielded, but the throw to first barely beat her.