Scoring early and often enables QND softball team to pass test against Macomb

QUINCY — Asked if he’d found a new leadoff hitter, Quincy Notre Dame softball coach Eric Orne chuckled and shook his head.

“No,” he said. “We’ll get healed up and back to normal.”

But should he consider leaving Abbey Schreacke in the leadoff spot, it creates a potent starting point as Macomb witnessed Friday at the Backyard.

With Caitlin Bunte nursing an injury, Orne slotted Schreacke, the junior shortstop and middle-of-the-order power hitter, into the leadoff spot and she delivered a double and a triple in her first two at-bats, setting the tone for QND’s 8-3 victory.

This was the first time in her prep career Schreacke had hit leadoff.

“I knew I had to go up there and get things started,” Schreacke said.

A double to center field on the fifth pitch from Bombers starter Kaitlyn Robinson.

“Her balls are kind of rising a little bit, so I knew I really had to get on top of it because I kept fouling it out underneath,” Schreacke said. “Once I did, I drove the ball.”

It put the wheels in motion for a statement start. Haley Schertel laid down a sacrifice bunt and was safe at first base on a throwing error by the third baseman, which also allowed Schreacke to score. Eryn Cornwell followed by reaching on another error, and one out later, Lindsey Fischer delivered an RBI infield single. A groundout plated the third run of the inning.

“Abbey just played the game for us and got us ignited,” Orne said. “We did a good job of scoring the first four innings. I thought our lineup was strong despite some of the changes.”

Those were the first runs the Bombers and Robinson allowed this season.

Macomb had outscored its first three opponents 51-0 with Robinson allowing just three hits over 11 innings with 22 strikeouts and just two walks. She was tagged for eight runs and six hits by the Raiders with only one strikeout and one walk.

“This builds everyone’s energy and everyone’s self-esteem because it was a big team win,” said Fischer, the Raiders’ senior catcher. “It wasn’t just a single person. Everyone had big hits. … And we played really good defense.”

It enabled starting pitcher Eryn Cornwell to wriggle her way out of some tense situations.

The senior right-hander retired the Bombers in order in the top of the first to run her scoreless innings streak to 18 straight, but a single and back-to-back walks to start the second inning allowed Macomb to load the bases.

A strikeout temporarily stalled the Bombers, but they scored twice on passed balls to get within 3-2 before Cornwell ended the frame with a strikeout and a flyout. QND answered in the bottom of the inning as Schreacke tripled with two outs and scored on Schertel’s single.

“Eryn does so much for us on the mound,” Schreacke said. “I know she worked hard for me during basketball season, so now I have to work hard for her during softball season.”

QND (5-0) scored twice in the third on Alyssa Ley’s two-run single, and Cornwell helped herself with a two-run home run to left-center field in the fourth made it 8-2.

The rest was up to Cornwell and the defense. Cornwell surrendered just two hits, struck out seven and navigated allowing six walks. Behind her, the Raiders turned a double play and threw a runner out at the plate to end the game.

“The defense takes a big weight off our shoulders,” Fischer said. “We know if there’s a ball on the ground it’s going to be fielded, it’s going to be thrown and it’s going to be an out.”

This time, it helped the Raiders make a statement with their victory.

“It was really a good win when we needed to see what kind of team we were passing this first test against Macomb,” Orne said. “We’re going to have to get better because we’ll see them again in May and possibly a third time in the postseason. There is always room for improvement, but I do like the fact that we wanted this test early on and our caliber of play was really good.”