Winking’s walk sets up red-hot Bunte to clear bases with triple, setting tone early for QND softball team

QUINCY — The most important at-bat in Wednesday afternoon’s 12-2 victory by the Quincy Notre Dame softball team over Western at the Backyard came in the second inning when it took the lead.

No, it wasn’t Caitlin Bunte’s bases-clearing triple, breaking a scoreless tie.

Instead, it was Morgan Winking’s two-out walk to load the bases, allowing Bunte to get to the plate.

Winking, the No. 9 hitter in the Raiders’ batting order, looked at a 3-2 pitch from Western pitcher Sophie Rennecker, allowing Bunte, arguably the area’s hottest hitter, to get a chance. She smoked a line drive triple to center field to extend her hitting streak to 14 games. She’s hitting .635 (33 for 52) during that streak, adding another triple and a single against Western.

After the game, however, Orne was elated with Winking’s at-bat. 

“It was the biggest at-bat of the game, because it just was a good at-bat, a smart at-bat,” he said. “That brought up our best player, and our best player came through. That was the type of at-bat we haven’t had recently. Hopefully this kind of jump starts our offense. We’ve just in a bit of a rut in the last couple games.

“Tonight, we just got good contributions up and down the lineup. Little things like (Winking’s walk) made a big difference in the game.”

Notre Dame (16-4) loaded the bases in the third but didn’t score. However, four runs in the fourth blew the game open. Bunte tripled with one out and scored on a single to left by Josie Boyer. Alyssa Ley walked, and Madalyn Boyer singled to right to score Josie Boyer. Lauren Miller’s groundout drove in Ley, and a fielding error allowed Madalyn Boyer to score. 

Western (5-7), which has lost four straight games, fought back in the fifth. Brynlee McQuay drew a two-out walk and scored on Rennecker’s double to left. Rennecker then scored on a fielding error, making the score 7-2.

That was the only inning Madalyn Boyer was in any trouble. She allowed six hits and walked just one. She only struck out two, but her changeup kept the Wildcats off balance throughout the game.

“She threw her changeup about 40 percent of the time tonight,” Orne said. “We knew Western had a good lineup, and we were really mixing it up and going soft early because they were being super aggressive.”

QND added four more runs in the fifth. Winking, Bunte and Josie Boyer all singled with one out, scoring one run (though Bunte was thrown out trying to advance to third). Back-to-back walks by reliever Laryn White loaded the bases, and a passed ball scored another run. Lauren Miller then delivered a two-run single.

The Raiders wrapped up the game in the sixth when Sophia White reached third base on a misplayed flyball, and she scored on a wild pitch.

Josie Boyer had three hits and two RBIs for QND. Miller had two hits and three RBIs, and Bunte had three RBIs.

It was the first home game for the Raiders since April 11. They had split six consecutive road games before Wednesday.

“It was nice to have a home game,” Orne said. “We’ve been on the road a ton.”