Sports
Softball: Knaak Downright Defensive for Lady Raiders
Bolingbrook centerfielder Dani Knaak made two critical defensive plays to help the Lady Raiders earn a 6-4 win over Lincoln-Way West Monday.
Lincoln-Way West had all the momentum in its Southwest Suburban Conference crossover softball game at Bolingbrook Monday afternoon.
The Warriors had tallied three runs in the top half of the third inning to take the lead against the host Lady Raiders. Sarah Clark had given the Warriors the lead with a two-out triple. And Sam Doyle was making another bid for a back-to-back extra-base hit.
Doyle roped a line drive to the right-center field gap. But while most were thinking extra-bases, Dani Knaak had other ideas.
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The Lady Raiders’ centerfielder darted to her left and made a brilliant, lunging catch to end the Warriors’ uprising.
Ashley Deluca would answer with a two-run double in the Lady Raiders’ half of the frame and Bolingbrook went on to win 6-4.
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“Dani Knaack is a playmaker,” Bolingbrook coach Jean Ryan-Hoak said of the decisive turn of events. “That (catch) changed all the momentum. She definitely has speed in the outfield.”
Knaak, a sophomore, has been on the varsity squad since receiving a battlefield promotion early in her freshman campaign.
“I played three or four games on the sophomore team (before being called up),” Knaak said.
The defensive specialist is well aware of the intangibles involved with being an outfielder.
“Every catch is a possible difference-maker,” Knaak said. “I just see the ball and go get it. I love catching them.”
Knaak made another sterling play in the Warriors’ fifth, robbing Meg Eckberg with a fast-charging catch—this time to her right—and its significance became even greater when the following batter laced a double to right-centerfield.
“It’s just instinct for me,” Knaak said of her defensive mindset. “I look for the ball and go catch it.”
After early-season struggles at the plate, the Lady Raiders connected for eight hits, half of them for extra bases, to get back on track with league play looming.
“We actually started hitting the ball,” said Knaak, who singled to lead off the Lady Raiders’ third inning after terminating the Warriors’ run with her game-altering catch.
Deluca would plate two runners with a double after Marisa Cinquepalmi had her third RBI of the game to tie the game at 3-3.
