Schaumburg gallops to MSL triumph

Schaumburg's last Mid-Suburban League softball championship was 1979, just one year after horse racing had its last Triple Crown champion with a horse named Affirmed.

On Thursday at Elk Grove, the team that has shown the power of a thoroughbred all season affirmed that it was again the best club in the league for 2015.

The Saxons sprinted out of the starting gate with a 5-0 lead in the first inning and never looked back with a 9-1 decision that gave them a 25th straight win and 26-1 record.

Junior Paige Alt slowed down the Grens' offense which came into the game with a MSL East record 52 homers by firing a 4-hitter with 5 strikeouts.

Schaumburg, the league's top home-run hitting (62 for the season) hit five more, just one short of Barrington's record of six in a MSL title game (2013 at Buffalo Grove).

Junior Christiana Candotti hit a towering 3-run shot after two were out in the first inning to score Shannon Felde and Alt for the game-winning RBI and 3-0 lead.

The next batter, Michelle Birkholz, belted her third of homer of the spring.

Roxanne Kakareka followed with a double off the left-center field fence and came home on sophomore Alex Cook's double to center to make it 5-0.

Saxons catcher Elaine Walker powered her school record 22nd homer of the season (two shy of tying a state record) while Alt belted her 12th to lead off the seventh inning.

Because of an ankle injury that sidelined starting third baseman Natalie Napier, Candotti moved from first base to play third. Birkholz switched from second base to first and Cook got her first start at second.

Cook was hardly fazed, handling all of her chances for 7 assists.

"I had full trust in my pitcher," said Cook, who also went 2-for-4 at the plate with an RBI. "Paige is awesome. I've never played with people so pumped up for a game. And that helped me with my confidence."

Candotti also was quick to point out Alt's performance.

"Paige was fantastic, hitting all her spots," said Candotti (4-for-4, 5 RBI), whose hit both her home runs (leadoff blast to right in third inning) on the first pitch she saw. She also had an RBI single in the fourth inning that scored Sarah Schwind.

"Usually the first pitch is one of the best you get," she said. "It's a great pitch to hit. I'm just shooting for hard contact and line drives. If they go out, they go out. And today they did."

They were Candotti's seventh and eighth homers this spring. The Saxons are now 3 shy of the state record 65 set by Benet Academy last spring.

"They're a deep team," said Elk Grove coach Ken Grams. "From one through nine, you can't relax. And they are a good team that plays well on the field. That's a tough combination to beat."

The Grens (26-8) got on the board in the bottom of the sixth when Marjorie Sloan drew a leadoff walk. She went to second and third on groundout.

Catcher Melissa Picchi then singled to right center for the RBI.

Sabra Morton drew a walk and Brianna Leach reached on an infield single to load the bases with two outs before Alt got out of the inning with a nice running catch Kaiden Jackson in center field.

"We had chances in the first two innings, leaving five runners on base," Grams said. "And then we had the bases loaded in the sixth. I understand it was always with two outs. But we certainly didn't back down."

The Grens 'only extra base hit was a double to right center by Haley Itzenthaler in the fifth inning.

Elk Grove with sophomore Kylie Thomsen (12-4) and junior Anna Bonder on the mound. Bonder went the final 5 innings, recording 4 strikeouts

Alt also excelled with her bat for Schaumburg, going 3-for-4 with 2 runs.

"It was just staying focused," said Alt about her team's win in its first MSL title game appearance since 1996 when they won the MSL South and lost to North champion Barrington 1-0. "We didn't think of it as a championship game. We just stayed calm and patient."

Even with the makeshift infield.

"We practiced in our new positions during the week," Candotti said. "We worked on everything."

"You still need the same reactions" Birkholz said of her move from second base to first. "I wasn't scared because I knew my infielders would make good throws to me."

Now you can throw Schaumburg into the list of all-time great MSL championship teams with its 26-1 record and 16-0 in the MSL West this spring.

"The girls were very confident in each other," said coach Ellen Abreu, who guided the Saxons to their first conference crown in 36 years. "I think we have kids who can play multiple positions at any time. And that was key in this game. We had the kids who could come in and do what they had to do."