Bunte quiets QHS bats as QND softball team rolls to victory in crosstown showdown

QUINCY — Eric Orne’s assessment was equally accurate and understated.

“Caitlin does a lot of things for us,” the Quincy Notre Dame softball coach said.

Orne was complimenting the Raiders’ left-handed ace, Caitlin Bunte, who had

just dominated rival Quincy High School with a strong effort both on the mound and at bat.

Bunte pitched five effective innings, facing just 16 batters, plus collecting three hits batting leadoff. Bunte’s combined effort triggered QND’s 10-0, six-inning victory in the latest edition of the crosstown showdown, this one played out Wednesday evening at the QHS field.

“Caitlin had great command today,” Orne said of Bunte’s 71-pitch showing that included nine strikeouts. The only hit Bunte permitted was a bunt single in the second inning by Ariana Adorno. 

And at the plate? Bunte smacked a double and a pair of singles, while driving in two runs.

“She’s also hitting over .700,” Orne said.

Bunte preferred to talk about how strong the Raiders’ team chemistry is and what the future might hold for QND, which improved to 8-0 and has outscored its opponents 81-8.

“We have a lot of potential,” she said.

Pitching-wise, Bunte relied on her usual arsenal of fastballs, curves and changeups. What might be missed by the casual fan is the improvement in one of Bunte’s off-speed pitches.

“I’ve been working this year on re-learning my changeup,” she said.

Obviously, Bunte’s a quick study. 

Bunte’s off-speed pitches were a perfect accent to her hard stuff and repeatedly kept the Blue Devils off balance. She faced the minimum number of batters in four of the five innings she worked.

QND third baseman Brooke Boden, who pitched the final inning for the Raiders, notched three hits from her cleanup spot in the order. Nine different QND players had at least one of the Raiders’ 14 hits.

“I’m (going to bat) with a lot of confidence right now,” Boden said. “It’s great hitting behind and in front of the players we have in our lineup. We’re getting close to reaching our potential. We do what we can with what we got.”

Orne has nothing but praise for Boden’s overall game.

“Brooke is having a solid year with a lot of good at-bats and big RBIs,” he said. “She just loves to play softball.”

QND broke the game open with a six-run fourth inning that saw 10 Raiders go to the plate. Bunte, Abbey Schreacke, Boden, Alyssa Ley, Logan Pieper, Laela Hernandez-Jones and Carlee Gilker all had hits in the inning.

QND punctuated its win with three runs in the sixth that brought the game to an end one inning early due to the 10-run mercy rule.

Notre Dame has scored 10 or more runs in six of its games. 

Quincy High School coach Darrell Henze said he felt the Blue Devils (5-7) may have let the excitement that always surrounds the rivalry play too much of a factor.

“There’s always a lot of emotion when we play (QND), and we can’t let that emotion take over,” he said.

The Blue Devils committed five errors and were guilty of a variety of other defensive shortcomings, particularly in the fourth inning when the game unraveled.

“We’ve got some things to clean up,” Henze said. “It’s frustrating because I know we can play better.”

QHS was limited to three hits — two coming in its last at-bat off Boden via Karly Leenerts and Avery Hlubek — and managed to get just one other ball out of the infield.

“We’ll put this behind us and focus on United Township,” Henze said.

Quincy hosts United Township at 4:30 p.m. Thursday in a Western Big 6 Conference game. The Blue Devils are 1-3 in league play. The Panthers (4-5) are 3-2 in the league..

QND plays at Piasa Southwestern (8-5) at 4 p.m. Thursday.