As Marist’s Gabi Novickas tried to steal second on Wednesday, Benet catcher Grace Babich fired a strike to the base.
Inning over.
It wasn’t the first time Babich has erased a base runner.
“I don’t know how many runners she’s caught,” Benet coach Jerry Schilf said. “But it’s been a lot.”
Babich hasn’t been shy about trying to do it. On Wednesday, the junior came within an eyelash of catching another Marist player trying to steal, and she threw behind runners three times on pickoff attempts. She threw out two in a game earlier this season.
“I really started to step it up last year,” Babich said. “I wasn’t a starter, so that made me want to work harder to get better at stuff.”
Babich had plenty of chances to practice her throwing against Marist during an 11-0 East Suburban Catholic Conference loss in five innings in Lisle.
“I like being aggressive with the runners because you’ll have a runner take a huge lead and you need to try to throw them out,” Babich said. “I think that’s my biggest strength because even though it might not work out sometimes, I’ve been close more often than not.
“That’s what’s great about throwing someone out at second or wherever it may be. Because now they’re like, ‘OK, maybe I shouldn’t go,’ and it helps our pitchers out of tough situations.”
The Redwings (16-10, 6-7) are in a tough situation after injuries decimated their pitching staff. They won 13 of their first 15 games with three rookie pitchers. But all three — junior Alexandra O’Rourke, sophomore Gabriela Patterson and freshman Gianna Cunningham — got hurt, and Benet has lost eight of its past 11 games.
Schilf, who said he hopes to have all three back for the playoffs, had to bring up freshman Olivia Opalacz from the junior varsity team. Opalacz made her debut in a 26-11 loss to Carmel on Monday. Having to face top-ranked Marist (23-2, 8-0) was a difficult assignment.
“It was her second time out, so today I definitely felt that she was more comfortable and less down on herself about anything that maybe she did wrong,” Babich said.
“She kept working to get better, and I was proud of her for that because it’s hard not expecting to play on varsity this year and then have all three of our pitchers get hurt. For her to have to come up against a team like Marist, that’s crazy. I’m proud of how well she did.”
Opalacz was grateful to have Babich, who is hitting .262 with 17 RBIs, behind the plate to keep her calm.
“She was definitely really encouraging, and she helped me out a lot,” Opalacz said. “She kind of got me more comfortable pitching at the varsity level.”
Opalacz gave up four home runs, including a pair to Illinois recruit Eileen Donahue and a three-run shot to Ball State commit Maia Pietrzak. But Babich made sure it didn’t discourage Opalacz.
“She was pretty much telling me not to worry about it, just keep on pitching and they’re the No. 1 team in the state,” Opalacz said. “There’s nothing you can really do if they’re good hitters. It’s best to just stick with it and keep on trying.”
Babich, whose brother Max is a freshman pitcher at St. Louis, has to walk a fine line with such a young staff.
“I definitely have to be constructive with my criticism because I know it’s tough,” Babich said. “But as a catcher, it is my job to tell them where they may make mistakes. But they’re handling it really well, taking my advice and battling through adversity. If they give up hits, they come back from it.”
Despite the recent adversity, the season has been an unexpected hit for the Redwings, who have earned the No. 1 seed in the Class 3A St. Ignatius Sectional and will host a regional beginning May 23.
“I’m really proud of all the girls and how we’ve been playing because we didn’t come into this year expecting to do as well as we’ve been doing,” Babich said. “I’m a little surprised, but I’m also very happy with how well some of the girls have been handling everything. We all are resilient.”
Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.