Crown Point’s Miranda Elish attempts to treat every opponent, every start, every game the same way.
But the senior right-hander seemed especially sharp Friday against Chicago Marist.
Elish, an Oregon recruit, pitched a no-hitter with 13 strikeouts as the Bulldogs beat the RedHawks 4-0 in a matchup between top teams in each’s state.
Marist’s only baserunner came on a Crown Point error to start the sixth inning.
“I definitely felt locked in,” Elish said. “It’s great to get up and beat a team of that caliber pretty handily. We just have to keep looking forward.”
Given their roster and expectations, the Bulldogs (24-1) sought to construct a schedule that included quality opponents who would test them.
They’re ranked No. 1 in the Class 4A state coaches poll, No. 1 in the MaxPreps computer rankings and No. 3 in the MaxPreps Xcellent 25 national poll after having been No. 1 for two weeks. Their only loss came in a doubleheader split May 7 at Downers Grove South, which is ranked No. 1 in Illinois in the Class 4A state coaches poll.
Marist (25-4) is No. 3 in the Illinois Class 4A state coaches poll and No. 1 in the MaxPreps computer rankings. The RedHawks won the 4A state title last season.
“They’re a very good team, they have a very tough schedule, so we were excited to play them,” said Crown Point coach Ginger Britton, whose team closes the regular season Saturday with a doubleheader against West Lafayette Harrison and opens sectionals Tuesday.
“We hope it helps us in the postseason to have seen good teams, good pitching. I like that it’s late in our season so we get some different looks before we go into the postseason. With our conference and our area, we see a lot of the same teams more than once, so they’re going to come ready to go.”
Elish was ready to go against Marist, striking out the first four batters and seven in three innings. After the fielding error to lead off the sixth, Elish sandwiched strikeouts around a sacrifice bunt to end the inning.
“Miranda did the best she could,” Britton said. “You can’t pitch any better than that.
“You add to the fact that they had a lot of lefties in the lineup, and that’s not a look you get all the time. She hit her spots really well. She was moving the ball in and out and high and low.”
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Crown Point scored all of its runs in the third inning against Marist right-hander Lizzie Annerino, a Boston University recruit.
Elish led off with a walk. Notre Dame commit Alexis Holloway, Northwestern recruit MacKenzie Dunlap, Marie O’Malley and Natalie Klingberg had four straight one-out singles. Dunlap’s hit drove in a run and O’Malley’s drove in two.
Those four players each had two hits to account for Crown Point’s eight.
“We did a nice job putting the ball in play,” Britton said. “I would’ve liked to have scored in more than one inning, but we did get runners on in several innings and they just made some great plays on defense.”
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