Plainfield East Beats Plainfield South for the First Time

Scoring five runs in the top of the first inning is nice.

But the turning point in Plainfield East High School’s 8-5 softball win over host Plainfield South Tuesday came in the top of the fourth inning.

Plainfield South plated a pair of runs in the bottom of the third inning to cut Plainfield East’s lead to 5-2.

With two outs, the Bengals scored twice to re-establish command.

“Those were huge runs,” Plainfield East coach Chris Morris said. “That was a huge point in the game.”

“That kind of burst our bubble,” Plainfield South coach Tara Singler said. “Tip your hat to them. They played really well. They scored right back that inning.”

It was the Bengals’ first win over a District 202 team in school history. Both of East’s Southwest Prairie Conference wins a year ago were against Oswego.

“It was nice because we’re one step closer to one of our goals,” Morris said. “We want to beat every Plainfield team at least once. And, we had just two conference victories last year and we’re halfway there after three games. I’m excited.”

“Our goal is to beat all the conference teams,” East senior shortstop Nina Maggio said.

With two out in the top of the fourth, Plainfield East’s leadoff hitter Nina Maggio singled. Ashlyn Lee singled while Maggio was running and just like that, there were runners on second and third.

After falling behind 0-2, Taylor Messer singled home both runners to get the two runs back.

“Nina got on, we had the hit and run on, made something happen and Taylor has been hitting the heck out of the ball all year,” Morris said.

“I called time out, pulled her over and told her it was her time. I have all the confidence in the world in her. If we don’t get that hit, who knows what happens in the game? We kind of pushed them back a little bit.”

Maggio went 3-for-3, reached base all four plate appearances and scored twice.

“It was important because if I didn’t get on, they could have come back and scored,” Maggio said. “It feels great to get a hit to start the rally. Coach always tells us not to give up. He always tells us to throw the first and last punch.”

Annie Molek went 2-for-4 with a double, two RBI and two runs scored, while Lee doubled twice and scored twice for Plainfield East (6-7, 1-2 in the SPC).

Whitney Lanphier went 3-for-4 with three runs scored, while Alex Eischen went 3-for-4 with two RBI for Plainfield South (2-6, 0-3).

Alyssa Mannucci had three RBI, while Angelina Medo was credited with two runs knocked in.