Barrington, Elk Grove come up short

There is no admission charge to watch the IHSA softball games at the Schaumburg Sports Complex.

But had there been a fee, fans sure would have gotten their money’s worth watching perennial Mid-Suburban League powers Barrington and Elk Grove in their back-to-back indoor games on Friday afternoon.

Stagg outlasted Barrington 5-3 in 9 innings while Minooka edged Elk Grove 2-1 in the 2011 Spring Jamboree put on by Illinois Bash director and Regina coach Jim Goranson.

Barrington junior Jordan Wekony kept the Fillies alive in the bottom of the eighth with a two-out single to left field.

Loren Kryzko, who was placed on second base to start the inning (per international tiebreaker rule), scored on the play to tie the game at 2-2.

Stagg (5-0) took advantage of 2 walks and a sacrifice bunt to score three times in the top of the ninth.

The Fillies (3-1) added one in the bottom of the ninth when Colleen Shandley singled home Danielle Di Iorio.

But Chargers senior pitcher Lea LaSota (5-0) retired the next two batters to finish a 7-hitter.

“Lea did a nice job,” said Chargers coach Missy Mason. “We made some mistakes on bunt coverage and that led to a run for them.

“But to come back against a quality team like Barrington, you’re always happy. Perry (Peterson, Barrington coach) always has great teams.”

Colleen Shandley led the Fillies’ offense by going 3-for-5 and reaching base all five times.

“They (Stagg) pulled through with their hitting,” Shandley said. “We didn’t hit like we are capable.”

“Today was a great learning experience,” Peterson said. “We realized that we have to do a better job with runners in scoring position (3-of-16).

Elk Grove (0-1) outhit Minooka 4-2 but didn’t outscore the Indians, who scored 2 unearned runs in the second inning.

“I told the girls we had that one bad inning (second),” said Elk Grove coach Ken Grams. “Other than that inning, where unfortunately we made both our errors, they only had one other baserunner.”

Grens ace Dani Goranson threw a 2-hitter with 8 strikeouts, 1 walk and 1 hit batter.

“I tell you what, our girls were impressed by her (Goranson),” said first-year Minooka coach Mark Brown. “They said the movement on her ball was very nice. I got the feeling real early this was going to be a 1- or 2-run game either way.”

Elk Grove got its run in the top of the fifth when Katie Keegan led off with a walk and Rebecca Walz followed with a triple to center.

Stagg sophomore pitcher Sara Nowak, making her varsity debut after going 18-2 on the junior varsity last season, retired six of the seven batters she faced in the final two innings to notch the win.

“We’ve got a championship belt we give out to a player after every game and Sara got it because she played like a champion,” Brown said. “She got stronger as the game went on.

“We didn’t tell our girls how high Elk Grove is ranked (No. 1 in the Daily Herald preseason rankings). My girls tend to tense up sometimes when they know that about the other team. But I’d rather play Elk Grove inside than outside in 42-degree temperatures. I think it helped us being inside.”

Keegan, Tori Liewergen (double) and Krista Soesbe also had hits for the Grens.

“We have a big target on our back with our ranking,” Goranson said. “After that second inning, we played well. We just couldn’t do anything offensively to score runs.”

“I didn’t think we did too poorly hitting, considering it was our first game and we were inside,” Grams said. “ We just didn’t bunch the hits together.

“We played a good quality opponent (2-0) which we need to do a lot.”

Grenadiers all-area senior infielder Jessica Balzano, a Loyola recruit with a 41-game-hitting streak, is hoping to return in early April from an appendix issue.

“That’s exciting news,” Grams said. “We need to get her back in the lineup.”