Jenna Ehrensaft pitched a no-hitter as the Evanston Wildcats won both games of a double-header Saturday, 18-0 and 13-3.
Jenna Ehrensaft shut down the Romans offense in the top of the first by striking out the first batter, then drawing a ground ball and a pop up to end the inning. Cate Rudy played the grounder well at second and Caroline Duke caught the ball at short.
In the bottom of the first, Ehrensaft reached first on a walk and Caroline Duke tripled to bring her in and give the Kits the lead. After a fly out to left field, Allie Nortz singled to bring another run in. The Kits then put together a rally for 8 more runs, highlighted by hits from Emily Mathyer and Emma Maxwell.
In the top of the second, Ehrensaft struck out the side. The bottom of the second brought 3 more runs for the Kits. Jackie Kretchmer walked to start the inning before Cate Rudy singled. After one out, Caroline Duke doubled to bring in a run. After another walk, Emma Maxwell singled to bring in the other runs for the inning.
The top of the third was perfect once again with two strikeouts from Ehrensaft and a ground ball to Caitlin Boer at first base who flipped to Cate Rudy who was covering first. Jackie Kretchmer started the bottom of the third with a single. Cate Rudy singled to put runners at first and second. Ehrensaft singled to load the bases. Duke then singled to bring in a run. Boer followed with another single to bring in another run. After a strikeout, Emma Maxwell singled to bring in another run. Izzy Bergman finished the scoring for the inning with another RBI single.
The top of the fourth started with a hard hit to shortstop Caroline Duke who threw to first for the out. Ehrensaft then struck out the second batter in the order and catcher Emily Mathyer caught a foul pop up for the third out. In the bottom of the fourth, the Kits offense was kept in check. Ehrensaft struck out the first batter in the fifth inning. The next batter hit a slow rolling ground ball and an error was the only reason that this no hitter was not a perfect game. Ehrensaft struck out the next batter, then fielded a ground ball and threw to first to preserve the win and the no hitter.
In Saturday’s other game, Latin got runners to second and third in the top of the first inning on two hits, but sophomore pitcher Caitlin Boer got tough and struck out the side to keep the Romans from scoring. In the bottom of the first, after one out,
Caroline Duke hit another monster homerun into the parking lot at Evanston to give the Kits a 1-0 lead. Boer then singled, and Allie Nortz doubled to bring her in. After a walk, Emily Mathyer drilled one to right which was caught by the right fielder and brought Nortz, who was tagging up, in to score. Freshman Izzy Bergman then doubled to bring in the fourth run of the inning.
The Romans once again got two runners on base in the top of the second. Boer then struck the next batter out for the first out of the inning. The next batter attempted to bunt, but third baseman Maddie Reiches charged in and caught the ball before it reached the ground. She then threw to Cate Rudy at second for the double play.
In the bottom of the second, Cate Rudy started the inning with a single. After an out, Caroline Duke singled to bring in Rudy. Boer then walked before Allie Nortz tripled to the right field corner to score two runs. Izzy Bergman doubled once again to bring in two more runs and cap the Kits second inning scoring.
In the top of the third, Boer struck out two more batters and held the Romans to zero once again. In the bottom of the third, the Kits scored three more runs. Duke started the rally with a double. After an out, Nortz singled to score Duke. Mathyer brought in another run by hitting the ball to the right side, despite the fact that she was out at first. Izzy Bergman singled to bring in the third run of the inning.
Boer struck out two more batters in the top of the fourth, and Cate Rudy took care of the other out for the inning. The Kits did not score in the fourth inning, despite a hit from Caroline Duke. The Romans then scored three runs in the fourth on four hits, before Boer struck out a batter and fielded a ground ball to end the inning.
In the bottom of the fifth, the Kits ended the game on the ten run rule. Allie Nortz, Emma Maxwell, Emily Mathyer, and Cate Rudy put hits together to score a run and end the game.