Wednesday afternoon’s softball game between Minooka and Bolingbrook was a snap for the Indians. A 17-3 result in four innings was certainly impressive.

Perhaps more impressive, however, was how the Minooka community came together for an important cause before the game.

Junior left fielder Brea Murphy organized a Lego drive for childhood cancer awareness after her own battle with the disease. All donated Legos will be going to Advocate’s Children’s Hospital as a gift from Minooka softball and Brea’s Support Squad.

In August 2024, Murphy was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s T-Cell lymphoblastic lymphoma. She’s currently in the maintenance phase of recovery, but has been cancer-free since December 2024

However, she still remembers those long hospital stays and how she kept herself entertained. That’s what led her to organize Wednesday’s Lego drive.

“When I was diagnosed, the hospital stays always went by faster [with Lego sets],” Murphy said. “They’d give me free Legos from other people donating, so I wanted to give back after getting back to my normal life. I thought it’d help them with the boredom.”

Murphy even managed to get in the game on Wednesday. Although she went 0 for 1, she is just happy to be back on the field and, hopefully, doing more soon.

“It’s amazing,” she said. “All I wanted to do was play when I was in the hospital, and it just feels good to be back with the team, with Minooka and soon with travel ball.”

All Minooka fans in attendance were also treated to a heck of an effort by their squad.

After Addison Stehlik managed to score on a passed ball early in the first inning to make it 1-0, Ava Nahs scored in the second on an error by the Raiders to make it 2-0.

The third inning is when the Indians really popped off. With the bases loaded, Jaelle Hamilton hit the ball just over the fence for a homer to score Ava Knutsen, Ava Carlson and Addisonn Crumly. The no-out grand slam extended the lead to 6-0.

The same inning saw Stehlik single to score Nahs, making 7-0. Two at-bats later, Crumly’s RBI double sent Payton Psinas and Stehlik home, putting two more on the board. Carlson followed that with a double to score Olivia Boyd and Crumly to make the lead 11.

Knutson followed with yet another double to score Carlson (12-0) and force Bolingbrook into a pitching change.

The scoring didn’t stop with the change. Lily Mayer singled to score McKenna Murphy two at-bats later, and Hamilton and Mayer scored on an error shortly after that to make it 15-0, which was the score at the end of the inning.

Credit Bolingbrook for never giving up. Amaiya Gray scored on an error in the top of the fourth before Jayla Jenkins’ RBI single scored Caeli Stelmachowski to make it 15-2.

Minooka closed the door in the bottom of the fourth when Ali Carter scored Lexi Bukala on a single, and Carter scored on a RBI ground out by Cadence Murphy to enforce the four-inning 15-run rule.

Again, it was an outstanding effort by Minooka (17-8-1), but the focus was primarily on the community coming together and what they accomplished.

“We have a special person on our team who has been through a lot,” coach Kelly Whitehead said. “I think that brings perspective to what really matters. The opportunity to support something bigger than this game was huge. Seeing everyone come together is just really great.”

Hamilton’s grand slam, Carlson’s 2-for-3 effort with two RBIs and Crumly’s identical mark led the offense. Emma Best gave up one hit with no walks and three strikeouts in three innings of work.

Bolingbrook (1-17) will play at Plainfield Central on Thursday.

“A lot of our girls played different positions than normal today,” coach Shelby Sramek said. “They’re putting the bat on the ball, which is all we can ask right now. We just have to execute.”