By MATT GOLDBERG

Herald-Whig Sports Writer

It took Quincy Notre Dame softball coach Eric Orne nine seasons to finally defeat Quincy High School on its home turf in 2006.

Freshmen Kelsey Ley and Danielle Sanders only needed 13 games.

The young duo, and sophomore Karlee Gengenbacher, combined to knock in every run in the Lady Raiders' 5-1 victory over the Blue Devils on Tuesday night at QHS.

QND (10-3) scored five unanswered runs -- one in the fifth and four in the sixth -- after QHS (6-8) scored its only run in the opening inning.

"It means so much, senior year I wanted it so bad and it was just really important to me and I had fun," QND senior Elise Obert said. "... Coach (Orne) wanted it really bad. He always wants to beat QHS. He definitely pumped us up for it."

Ley, QND's lead-off hitter, led off the top of the sixth with a single on the first pitch she saw. Obert followed with an infield single.

Mackenzi Fairley (6-6) nearly escaped the situation unscathed, by recording a strikeout and engaging the next hitter in a one-pitch popout.

Gengenbacher ended those hopes when she sent a 2-2 pitch into right field -- scoring Ley.

Then Sanders knocked Gengenbacher and Obert with an inside-the-park home run.

Fairley, who beat QND twice last season, got Elizabeth Wolf to fly out to center field to end the inning. But by then, the damage had already been done.

Emily McCaughey (6-2) retired the final eight Blue Devils in order to earn the win, ending QHS's chances of a rally.

QHS started the game off right when Raina Naderhoff singled and stole second base in the first inning. Sophomore Jordyn Mecklenburg drove her in with a two-out double to right field.

"One run's not going to win a lot of games," QHS coach Barb Crist said. "Even though we're pretty confident, 'We got a run on the board. Yay. Great. Wonderful.' But I didn't care if we would've lost that game by 50 it wouldn't have mattered. We could not score anymore runs."

A determined Fairley looked unhittable early on. The senior, who finished with 10 strikeouts, struck out three of the first six batters she faced and retired the first seven Lady Raiders -- and 12 of the first 13 -- in order.

Gengenbacher's double to leadoff the fifth inning ended that streak.

"Our at bats in the first four innings were rather poor, actually," Orne said. "So, I was a little disappointed in our effort especially since we didn't really seem to have a lot of emotion there. Even in pregame and all the way through four innings. ... In the end we really came through with some big at bats when we really needed them late in the game."

On offense, QHS stranded five baserunners and QND only left two on.

"We were hitting to people and we definitely left runners on base," QHS senior Lindsay Womack said. "We just didn't execute at the right times."

Notes: The wins snaps QHS's two-game winning streak in the series. ... These two teams play at The Backyard on Tuesday. ... The win was the Lady Raiders' tenth of the season. That means, per tradition, they are entitled to a new pair of socks. ... There was only one free pass in the entire game. Womack walked in the third inning. ... Mecklenburg nearly took McCaughey's head off in the bottom of the third. But McCaughey quickly reacted and snared the line drive to end the inning leaving a runner stranded on first. ... Five out of the six runs in the game were scored with two outs. QND scored its first run of the game, in the fifth, with no outs.

-- mgoldberg@whig.com / 221-3367