Bright lights, softball city: QND cashes in on scoring opportunities, shuts out QHS

Editor’s Note: Technological issues resulted in losing all of our images taken during the game. We apologize there will be no photo gallery to accompany this story.

QUINCY — It may not have been Friday night lights, but it was pretty darn close.

When the Quincy Notre Dame and Quincy High School softball teams renewed their rivalry on Wednesday, they flipped the traditional game order. The junior varsity teams played first, setting the stage for the varsity squads to battle it out under the lights at The Backyard.

“It’s our Wednesday night lights,” QND coach Eric Orne said.

And under those lights, the Raiders notched their second straight shutout with a 4-0 victory.

Both QHS coach Darrell Henze and QND junior Morgan Zanger said playing beneath the bright lights intensified the rivalry.

“It just brings a whole different atmosphere,” Henze said. “It allows more people, more fans, more parents to show up. That’s one of the things that’s special about us playing each other.”

Said Zanger, “The lights are so cool. It makes it feel so much more official, almost like a college game.”

QND senior right-hander Brooke Boden started in the pitcher’s circle and tossed 3 ⅓ scoreless innings.

“This game against our cross-town rival comes with a lot of emotion,” Boden said. “We just had to keep that under control.”

Boden and left-handed reliever Caitlin Bunte both did. Boden allowed one hit and two walks with six strikeouts before handing the ball to Bunte with one out in the fourth and two runners on base after QHS’s Aarora Allison doubled and Paige Kurfman singled and went to second on a throw.

Bunte navigated the jam by inducing a groundout and a strikeout. She allowed a triple to Avery Hlubek in the sixth and singles to Ariana Adorno and Carlee Gilker in the seventh, but Bunte preserved the shutout by striking out the final two batters she faced.

Pitching with the lead helped both QND hurlers. The Raiders took the lead in the bottom of the second inning when sophomore Lauren Miller doubled for the first of her three hits, took third on a groundout and scored on a passed ball.

Miller’s RBI triple in the fourth made it 2-0, and she scored when Payton Stupavsky singled her home on the next pitch.

Miller said of her approach, “Just get out of my own head. Just watch the ball. See ball, hit ball.”

Zanger drove in Bunte with a single in the fifth to provide an insurance run for the Raiders (5-0).

“This means a lot to the girls,” Orne said of the win. “There was a little more juice around the softball field. Defending The Backyard is what we wanna do.”

The Blue Devils (3-4) left six runners on base and four in scoring position.

Henze said cashing in on these opportunities when they present themselves will be crucial when these teams meet again on April 22.

“We just didn’t move the ball and move the runners,” Henze said. “Bunte and Boden are the type of pitchers that if you give them a run or two, they can shut you out, and they did.”