Softball/Fox Valley roundup

Brooke Gaylord fired a 4-hitter and Burlington Central's softball team made the most of its extra-base hits Saturday in a 3-1 nonconference win over St. Charles North and Northwestern recruit Sabrina Rabin.

Central (8-5) got a double from Courtni Neubauer and an RBI single from Gaylord in the first inning, a double from Tori Harvey and an RBI single by Becca Gerke in the second and a double from Bekah Harnish with an RBI single by Emily Kisch in the fifth.

Gaylord, who has 2 hits in the game, struck out seven and walked two, allowing the North Stars only a seventh-inning run.

"We played real well today and Brooke pitched real well," said BC coach Wade Maisto, whose defending Big Northern East champion Rockets travel to Marengo on Monday. "We've played some real solid competition so far this year and we've lost three games in the bottom of the seventh so it was nice to see us put together a good solid seven-inning game. Brooke was really good today and we played good defense behind her."

Elgin scores big in sweep: Scoring 39 runs on 36 hits, the Maroons (7-5) won for the fifth and sixth straight time with a 20-0 5-inning win over Westminster Christian (2-5-1) in the first game and a 19-11 victory in the second.

Jessica Rago fired a 1-hitter in the first game, striking out 10 Warriors en route to her third win of the year. Jennah Perryman (2-for-3, 2B, 5 RBI) and Jemiyah Stewart (2-for-3, 4 RBI) led the offense. Rachel Fugiel took the loss, but also had the lone hit for the Warriors. Sabrina Stockman provided the spark for the Maroons in Game 2, earning her first win by going 3 innings, giving up 3 runs (1 earned) on 2 hits with 7 Ks while going 5-for-6 from the plate with 2 doubles and 3 RBI.

Fremd sweeps Cary-Grove: The Trojans fell in nonconference play 8-4 and 12-2. In Game 1, Sarah Kendeigh had a home run and 3 RBI and in Game 2 Grace Pilz's double was one of only 3 hits for Cary-Grove (6-5). Amanda DeGroote and Caroline Zasadil suffered the pitching losses.