Brottman, Fremd shut out Palatine

Senior Lena Brottman has chalked up many firsts in her prolific pitching career at Fremd High School.

Already the school's all-time winningest pitcher and all-time strikeout leader, she is now 1 win away from another first - appearing in a Mid-Suburban League softball title game.

Brottman (21-2) fired a 3-hitter to shut out host Palatine 2-0 in a game played for breast cancer awareness.

"We were wearing pink socks, pink hair ribbons and hoping to raise money for the cure," Brottman said. "It was an awesome idea and great to be part of it."

Today, the Vikings (24-3, 13-1) are looking to clinch the Mid-Suburban West with a win over visiting Conant (19-9, 7-7).

"The game was supposed to be played last Wednesday so it's been brewing in our blood all week," Brottman said. "We are really excited for it."

The Vikings gave Brottman the only run she needed in the first inning when Kristine Werling led of with a single to left. She was sacrificed to second by Allie Gaeding, went to third on Lauren Zaworski's groundout to second and scored on a wild pitch.

In the third, Kelly Voigt reached on a fielder's choice and eventually came home on an error.

The Vikings did not commit an error behind Brottman, who struck out eight.

"Allie Gaeding (shortstop) and Megan Hubbard (second base) made some amazing plays and the whole defense was on its game," Brottman said. "I rely so much on my defense."

"I thought running game was huge and defense outstanding," said Fremd coach Jim Weaver. "Lena did what she had to do. She made some good pitches. Palatine played very well. You've got to give them credit."

Katie Mnichowicz went 2-for-3 for the Pirates (18-12, 8-7) while Katie Scovic had the other hit.

"We didn't do a good job of jumping ahead in the count,"said Pirates coach Jeff Manz, whose mother Sharon, a breast cancer survivor of 12 years ago, threw out the first pitch after Pirates right fielder Sam Salomone sang the national anthem. "I thought Chrissy (Roto, who is 10-10) pitched great, well enough to win. We made some mistakes with two outs and you cannot do that against a team the caliber of Fremd."

Barrington 13, Hoffman 3 (5): Kristin Kuhn (3-for-3, triple, RBI), Colleen Shandley (2-for-4, 2 runs), Kiersten Tinkoff (2-for-4, 2 RBI) and Nora Logue (2-for-3, 2 runs, RBI) led the offense for host Barrington (28-4, 12-3) while Kiley Dolezal (26-4) struck out four in 4 innings and teammate Loren Krzysko went the final inning.

Emily Allan tripled for the Hawks (3-20, 2-13).

Schaumburg 1, Conant 0: Schaumburg (18-10, 9-6) repeated its 1-0 victory over host Conant (19-9, 7-7) from two weeks ago.

Sophomore Alyssa Lancaster (16-1), who fired a perfect game the first time in 65 minutes, tossed a 2-hitter this time with 3 strikeouts.

Sophomore Briana Cavin (11-8) had 6 strikeouts while tossing a 5-hitter.

Briana Lingl's scored Ally Poehlmann with the game's only run in the fourth inning. Becca Thompson had a double for Schaumburg.

Buffalo Grove 4, Prospect 2: Host Buffalo Grove (18-14, 6-9) received a 5-hitter from Maria Dax (13-9) to win for the seventh time in its last nine games.

Sam Mangrum (7-9) and Hanna Lythberg pitched for the Knights.

BG's Danni Shapiro went 2-for-3 with an RBI single which scored Emily Begnel in the 3-run third inning.

Dani Brown laid down a bunt hit to score Andrea DiPrima in the inning and Dani Brown scored when Sara Penelle reached on an infield error.

Cassie Poulos singled to center to score Mary Styzek in the fourth inning for Prospect (11-17, 8-7).

Poulos got to third on a passed ball and scored on a groundout to short by Nicole Naranjo.

BG added an insurance run in the sixth when freshman Megan Fu singled sharply to right field to score Ali Levato.

Elk Grove 11, Wheeling 2: Junior Kristen Cetkovic (2-for-3, double, 2 RBI) and senior Olivia Roback (2-for-4, 2 RBI) each homered for MSL East champ Elk Grove (28-3, 14-1), which received a 6-hitter from Stephanie Maday (12-1). Maday struck out 11 and walked one.

Returning from a hamstring injury, Jessica Balzano (2-for-3) hit safely in her 28th straight game. Other top hitters for the Grens were Megan Keegan (3-for-4, double, 3 runs) and Dani Goranson (3-for-4, 2 RBI).

Taylor Schroeder went 2-for-3 and had both RBI for host Wheeling (4-19, 1-14).

Rolling Meadows 11, Hersey 7: Sophomore Josie Suchecki belted her second home run for host Rolling Meadows (18-13, 5-10), while Sam Anderson (2-for-4), Emily Skorin (2-for-3) and Megan O'Donnell (3-for-4) were the other offensive leaders.

Kayla Mueller (7-2) notched the win while Melissa Cecala (4-for-4), Taylor Reeves (2-for-4) and Aubrey Fulton (double) led the offense for Hersey (8-22, 4-11) in the night game.