Plainfield East‘s softball team sent a message to the Southwest Prairie Conference and teams around the state Thursday in a 5-4 win over Oswego East.

The message: Don’t sleep on the Bengals.

Oswego East entered the game ranked 16th in the latest Illinois Coaches Association (ICA) Class 4A poll. The Wolves posted a pair of runs in the top of the first inning on a two-run single by Katie Silva, but Plainfield East (9-2, 2-1) didn’t blink.

The Bengals’ Iliana Smith led off the bottom of the second with a home run to cut the Wolves’ lead in half.

“That one looked and felt good,” Smith said about her home run. “That relaxed us, and we knew we could score. There were a lot of people that contributed today.”

Smith was one of the key contributors.

Along with her home run, she drove in courtesy runner Haidyn Small to put the Bengals ahead 5-3 in the bottom of the fifth. A batter earlier, winning pitcher Jocelyn Cushard singled in Giselle Ascenio to break a 3-3 tie. Cushard, who struck out seven and allowed eight hits, also doubled in a run in the bottom of the third to tie the game after Marie Marcum had singled in a run to make it 3-2.

After Plainfield East took the 5-3 lead in the bottom of the fifth, Oswego East’s Danielle Stone led off the top of the sixth with a home run to cut the lead to 5-4. Oswego East (10-4, 2-2) got a runner to second with two outs in the inning, but Cushard induced an infield popup to get out of the inning.

“My curve was working really well today,” Cushard said. “I was able to throw strikes with it and keep them off balance. Our defense did a great job behind me, too. When I was hitting, I was just trying to put the ball in play hard and down so they had to make a play on it.

“They are a good team, and this win will give us a boost of confidence for the rest of the year.”

Cushard escaped another threat in the top of the seventh. Oswego East’s Olivia Owles reached third with two outs, but the game ended when Cushard induced another infield popup.

“This is a quality win for us,” Plainfield East coach Rebekah Grimes said. “We’re kind of creeping up on people. We only have two losses, and both of them are by one run. We never let games get out of control. We make the plays we are supposed to make and try to not beat ourselves.

“These girls know the game, and we can hit up and down the lineup. Jocelyn is becoming much more consistent and understanding the mental part of the game.”

Oswego East coach Sarah Davies found it hard to find fault with the way her team played.

“We knew coming in that this would be a good, close game,” Davies said. “We did a good job of getting runners on base, but we needed to string together a couple more hits. That was the difference. They got hits when they needed them.

“Katie Silva came through for us with a big hit early, and Dani Stone’s home run was a big hit. This conference is very competitive, and we know we’ll take some losses. We just have to keep working hard, which I know we’ll do.”