Avery Durdan homers twice, Marquette outguns Bloomington Central Catholic 9-6

OTTAWA – Avery Durdan blasted a pair of home runs, Savannah Erickson was solid in relief, and the Marquette Crusaders came away with a 9-6 nonconference victory Thursday afternoon in Ottawa over the visiting Bloomington Central Catholic Saints.

BCC was swinging the bats well to start, as Rylee Cook hit a single to short center. Two batters later, Kate Stolfa did the same to pick up the RBI as Cook scored to give the Saints the 1-0 lead.

The Crusaders, though, would settle down and not allow anything else in the inning.

That’s where the scored remained until the bottom of the third when Marquette got in the scoring column.

Hunter Hopkins ripped a triple into the left-field gap to lead off the inning, and Kelsey Cuchra tied the game at 1-1 with an RBI single up the middle.

Marquette was just getting started. Kealey Rick gave Marquette the lead with an RBI groundout to make it 2-1. After an Erickson walk, pinch runner Emily Ryan-Adair scored on a wild pitch to make it 3-1.

That brought up Lily Brewer, who crushed a two-run double to right to push the lead to 5-1 at the end of three innings.

“I thought we hit the ball really hard today,” Marquette coach Curtiss Johnson said. “It wasn’t an ideal day for hitting, but the girls found a way to get it done.”

But the Saints weren’t going to go away quietly, as they responded with four runs in the top of the fourth to tie the game at 5-5.

Bellas reached on a fielder’s choice, and then Cassie Ellis singled to right. Shortly after, Bellas would end up scoring on a wild pitch to cut the deficit to 5-2.

After an Alyssa Gibbs walk, Lauren Duranko slapped a two-run single to score Reagan Power and make it 5-4 still in favor of Marquette.

BCC put on the double steal, and it paid off as Duranko tied the game until Erickson came in to shut down the Saints attack.

Marquette quickly regained the lead in the bottom half of the inning. Hopkins led off with a bunt single, but was then out at second and Kelsey Cuchra reached on a fielder’s choice.

That brought up Durdan, who crushed a two-run home run into the wind that gave the Crusaders a 7-5 lead after four innings.

Then in the bottom of the fifth, Erickson led off with a single to left-center and scored as Hopkins ripped her second triple of the game, this time picking up the RBI and her team the 8-5 advantage.

After the Saints were sat down quietly again in the sixth, the Cru offense went back to work. Durdan sent a long home run over the center-field fence to push the lead to 9-6.

“Our coaches told us before the game that Bloomington was a good team, so we all knew we had to play well,” Durdan said. “I had a couple of near-misses lately, but today was able to get a couple over the fence and help us out. Then Savannah Erickson stepped in to pitch in relief and did a nice job as well.”

The Saints weren’t going to go away without a fight, though, as Stolfa singled in the seventh and scored when Summer Clark blasted a shot into the left-field gap that made it 9-6. But that’s where things would end, as Marquette came away with the victory.

“I love how the girls battled back today,” BCC coach Jaff Schade said. “Marquette was aggressive today and got some big hits, but we played well, just came up short.”

BCC was led by Clark with three hits, while Duranko had a pair of RBIs.

For Marquette, Durdan was 4 for 4 with three RBIs, while Brewer had two batted in. Erickson picked up the win.