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Barrington homers past Elk Grove

Elk Grove came into Wednesday's game at Barrington with the most home runs (44) of any team in the Mid-Suburban League.

So what happens?

The Fillies end up winning the crossover on the strength of 2 home runs of their own at the Fields of Dreams.

Junior catcher Rachel Macdonald crushed a one-out 2-run blast over the left field fence in the first inning, and senior first baseman Julie Magro ripped a second-inning leadoff shot inside the left field foul pole to lift Barrington to 3-0 victory.

Senior Keenan Dolezal (20-5) took care of the rest, tossing her 15th shut out of the season with 4-hitter and 10 strikeouts.

"She's (Dolezal) very good," said Elk Grove coach Ken Grams, whose team (21-6, 7-4) leads Buffalo Grove (14-6, 6-5) by one game in the MSL East. "She gets better every time I see her. I'm impressed by her."

Dolezal's impressive performance also included solid infield defense by the Fillies.

The Grens had runners on first (Alex Masnica who singled to center) and Haley Itzenthaler (single to right) with one out in the fourth.

But Dolezal escaped when second baseman Kelly Katis fielded a grounder, made the tag on the runner headed to second and then threw to Magro for the inning-ending double play.

One inning later, Aleece Duffy ripped a shot with one out in the sixth but shortstop Julia Kozar quickly got her glove down to snare the ball before reached the ground.

"Julia has really been helpful to our infield," Magro said. "We can always count on her."

Barrington coach Perry Peterson was glad he could count on his defense.

"Situational defense," he said. "You've got to be able to make the plays under pressure."

"When we had opportunities it make something happen, they came up with the defensive plays," Grams said. "So we couldn't get multiple runners going."

Grens sophomore Kylie Thomsen (8-3) retired 12 of the last 15 batters she faced and struck out three.

"I thought she pitched real well," Grams said. "Except for those two pitches (home runs), I thought she did well. Give credit to their hitters. They took advantage of those pitches"

The first was Macdonald, whose home run was her fifth of the season. It came with one out and scored Carly Kordich (2-for-3), who led off the inning with a double off the center field wall.

Magro's homer in the second was the first of her varsity career and the 25th of the season for the Fillies.

She was more concerned about the Fillies' victory, which kept them (21-5, 9-2) two games behind division leader Schaumburg (20-1, 11-0).

"This was a very tight game," said Magro (2-for-3), who also hit a rocket to left center for a base hit in the fourth inning. This was very big win for us. We knew they were one of the toughest teams we'll see from the MSL East. And it was a nice win for coach P (Perry Peterson), who was going up against coach Grams. They both have more than 700 wins (1,551 combined)."

Magro was one of three Fillies' with 2 hits in the game.

"Julie was a real offensive dynamo for us," Peterson said. "She made a significant difference in this game."

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