Dirty Dozen: QND softball maintains mastery over arch rival QHS, wins 13-3 at home

QUINCY — To her credit, Anjay Heinecke did not try to sidestep the question.

The Quincy High School softball coach fully admitted the frustration of the ongoing losing streak to arch rival Quincy Notre Dame, the latest loss coming in 13-3 fashion on a balmy Monday evening inside the friendly confines of The Backyard at 10th and Jackson.

Notre Dame has now defeated QHS in 12 straight meetings, a streak that began in April 2018.

“A lot of it is psychological,” Heinecke said. “It’s a rivalry that is instilled in all QND and QHS players, and right now QND wins all the time. I think our players are just psyched out.”

Monday’s victory allowed the Raiders (17-4) to sweep another season series with QHS (5-13), following a 6-2 victory last week at Avenue of Lights Field.

QND coach Eric Orne sloughed off the talk of his team’s dominance of QHS.

“I just worry about our team,” he said. “We try and keep the focus on our team.”

On Monday night, that meant keeping one eye on left-handed pitcher Caitlin Bunte and the other eye on catcher Lauren Miller. 

Bunte tossed an 11-strikeout complete game that was shortened to six innings by the 10-run rule. Bunte also socked her seventh home run of the season and 20th of her career, a line shot over the right-center field fence. She had three of QND’s 13 base hits while raising her pitching record to 7-3.

“I felt good with my performance,” Bunte said. “I know my defense always has my back.”

Bunte said she couldn’t “pick a favorite” when it came to blasting her home run or racking up her latest pitching decision.

“Both were exciting,” she said.

Miller contributed a three-run triple and two-run double. She said she approaches each at-bat with a specific mindset.

“I’m always repeating to myself that ‘I want it’ every time I go up to bat,” she said. 

Miller believes QND is rounding into form for the rapidly approaching postseason, despite losing recent back-to-back games against Piasa Southwestern and state-ranked Carrollton.

“We played two very good teams and just came up a little short,” she said. “We just need to concentrate on being a little more aggressive at the plate.”

Orne said his club’s quick start against QHS was a key. The Raiders struck for four first-inning runs and led 10-1 by the end of five frames. Miller’s three-run triple came in the first inning, and Orne felt it also settled QND’s nerves in the rivalry game.

“That triple really got us rolling, and Caitlin took it from there,” he said.

Sophia White and Morgan Zanger added a pair of base hits for QND. The Raiders were retired in order only once.

Heinecke hopes the Blue Devils will bounce back Tuesday when Galesburg visits Quincy for a Western Big 6 game. Quincy defeated Galesburg 9-1 earlier this month for its lone conference victory. QHS is 1-7 in the WB6, while Galesburg is 0-8 and 0-21 overall.

“I think we’ll be more confident going into (Tuesday’s game with) Galesburg,” said Heinecke, whose club has dropped four straight since a 7-3 victory at Payson Seymour last week. “I think we can learn from our (recent) mistakes, both offensively and defensively.”

Ivy Winter, Maycee Seward and Maggie Neally all collected two hits for QHS against the Raiders.