Softball: Plainfield East’s Gianna Damico leads hit parade in 27-14 win over Plainfield Central

PLAINFIELD – It was easy to figure that it was going to be a hitter’s day Thursday, with the wind howling out to right field at 30-40 mph at Plainfield Central’s Eichelberger Field.

No one, however, could have predicted 41 combined runs on 45 hits.

But that’s what happened in Plainfield East’s 27-14 win over Plainfield Central in a Strike Out Cancer game between the two District 202 and Southwest Prairie Conference rivals.

Plainfield East (5-3, 2-0 SPC) jumped out to a 6-0 lead before Central had a chance to bat. The big blow in the first inning was a two-run double off the bat of Lauren Brock, who finished 4 for 6 with six RBIs, including a three-run homer. Also contributing an RBI single in the top of the first was Gianna Damico, who was 5 for 6 with five RBIs and scored five times.

“I made sure I came to play today,” Damico said. “I had a plan when I was going up to hit. I wanted to get a good pitch and hit a line drive.”

Everyone was getting good pitches and hitting line drives all game. Damico, the No. 3 hitter in the Bengals’ lineup, cleanup hitter Izzy Stewart and No. 5 hitter Brock combined to go 12 for 17 with 12 RBIs. Freshman Avery Welsh came off the bench and went 3 for 4 with a solo home run, while No. 9 hitter Kati Guiborat was 5 for 5 with an RBI and scored twice. In all, Plainfield East collected 29 hits, including three home runs and four doubles.

Despite trailing 6-0 after a half-inning, Central (3-7, 0-2) didn’t quit. The Wildcats got on the board in the bottom of the second and, after East scored once in the top of the third, Central had a big inning of its own, scoring 10 runs to take an 11-7 lead.

Abby DeGrado led off the bottom of the third with a single, and singles by Courtney Werner and Tricia Hogrefe (4 for 5, RBI) loaded the bases. A walk to Audrey Dennis scored DeGrado before freshman Jamie Crawford doubled in a pair of runs. It was the second of three doubles for Crawford on the day. Later in the inning, Werner slugged a bases-loaded double, and Dennis singled in both Werner and Hogrefe, who had singled.

“Our girls showed a lot of fight,” Central coach Kate Walsh said. “We hit the ball well, and you would think that most games when you score 14, you are going to win. Still, for them to be down 6-0 before they even hit and then to come back and take the lead says a lot about the fight in these girls.

“We are a young team, too. We only had two seniors out there, so we will only grow as a team as the season goes on.”

East, however, kept on hitting.

The Bengals got a run back in the top of the fourth on an RBI grounder by Maddie Kilroy, plating Damico, who led off the inning with a single. Five more runs were scored in the top of the fifth, as Teagan Pranchke and Damico each had an RBI single before Brock slammed a three-run homer to center for a 13-11 lead.

The Bengals scored four more in the top of the sixth, including an RBI single by Damico, an RBI double by Stewart and an RBI single by Brock.

East put any doubts to rest with a 10-run top of the seventh, which was capped by back-to-back homers from Masey Danker and Welsh.

“We know that Plainfield Central is a good rivalry game for us,” East coach Rebekah Grimes said. “They play us tough every time we play. And, with the wind the way it was, we knew it wasn’t going to be a 2-0 game, so we wanted to win every inning.

“It’s a nice thing to have your 3-4-5 hitters combine for 12 hits. And our pitchers did a good job of throwing strikes.”