Win at Barrington clinches it for Schaumburg

Some of the stars for the 1996 Schaumburg softball team were Amanda Oscarson, Katie Baker, Kelly Murdock, Carla Hill and Vanessa Jones.

The current Saxons weren't even born that year.

But they now have something in common with those 1996 girls - and also the 1979 Saxons, who featured Beth Arden, Kim Wallner and Vikki Borys.

This year's edition became the third Schaumburg team to win a Mid-Suburban League division title on Friday as junior Paige Alt raised her record to 14-0 with a 5-3 victory at Barrington.

Schaumburg improved to 24-1 and 15-0 to clinch the MSL West, while second-place Barrington is 24-6 and 12-3.

Alt also did it with her bat, belting 2 homers that helped stake her team to a 3-0 lead.

The two solo blasts, which led off the second and sixth innings, gave Schaumburg a MSL record 56 home runs for the season, breaking the former mark of 54 set by Barrington in 2013.

The Fillies didn't go away, though, as sophomore Haley Luczak answered with a 3-run homer to center in the bottom of the sixth to dramatically tie the game with sophomore Rachel Krzysko (walk) and freshman Julia Kozar (single) on base.

"I don't know if we were 'worried' when they tied it up," said Saxons coach Ellen Abreu. "But it changes the game a little and the things you have to do. But our kids play through all seven innings and never give up."

And sure enough, in the top of the seventh, the visitors clicked for the deciding runs.

After Barrington ace Keenan Dolezal (23-6) struck out the first batter, No. 9 hitter Kaiden Jackson singled to left to ignite three straight hits.

Elaine Walker singled to right, giving the Saxons runners on first and third.

Junior Sarah Schwind then delivered the game-winning RBI with a base hit up the middle to score Jackson.

"I knew Sarah was going to do it," Alt said. "She was confident going into the batter's box. We have trust in every player who goes up to bat so we knew Sarah was going to get the job done. She did awesome."

The Saxons added an insurance run with two outs when junior first baseman Christina Candotti singled to center to score Walker for the 5-03 lead.

Alt then retired the side in order in the bottom of the seventh, including her seventh strikeout.

"We are just taking it one game at time," said Alt, who has 10 home runs this season. "We just want to win each inning."

Alt (2-for-3) and Jackson (2-for-2, double) were the only multiple hitters for Schaumburg while Barrington junior catcher Rachel McDonald went 2-for-4 with a first-inning double and sharp line outs to left field and the pitcher.

Luczak's homer and the single by Kozar were the Fillies' only other hits.

They had runners in scoring position on 8 at-bats but scored only twice on them.

"I'm proud of our group to muster up enough runs to tie the game but we had so many other chances and we did not execute to get the lead," said Barrington coach Perry Peterson, who honored Kat Panos, Julie Magro and Dolezal prior to the game on senior day.

"The bottom line is that Schaumburg was the better than us. That's why they are playing for the championship. We'll improve. There is time to get better. We'll see what happens."

The Saxons will play for their first MSL crown in 19 years when they visit Elk Grove on Thursday at 4:30 p.m.

"Oh my God, that's a long time," said Saxons coach Ellen Abreu about the last time Schaumburg played in the title match and lost to Barrington 1-0 that year (it was the MSL South and North back then). "Paige pitched through some tough innings. Barrington has a great club and our girls just didn't give up."

And they were rewarded with a divisional crown for the first time in 19 years.

"That's crazy," said Saxons shortstop and pitcher Shannon Felde. "We had a really good season last year and we are feeding off that this spring. We want to do this so bad. We've taken it one game at a time."

Now it's the Saxons' time to play for an MSL championship.