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Softball: South Elgin pounds Batavia

South Elgin's softball team unleashed its potent offense Wednesday afternoon.

Sophomore Casey Brennan launched a 2-run home run, highlighting a 5-run third inning, and the Storm (6-6, 3-0) added 4 more runs in the fifth on the way to a 10-2 Upstate Eight Conference crossover victory over Batavia (5-5, 2-2) in South Elgin.

Trailing 2-1 in the third, Brennan worked Batavia starting pitcher Kaylan Waldron to a 2-2 count before smacking the eighth pitch of the at-bat over the left-field fence for her first varsity career home run to give the Storm a 3-2 lead.

"It felt real good where I hit it (on the bat)," said Brennan. "I knew it was either going to be a real good hit to the fence or over it. When I saw it go over, it really felt nice."

South Elgin wasn't finished there.

After back-to-back singles from Mariah Spivey (3 for 4) and McKayla Timmons (2 for 4), senior outfielder Haley Szubert pulled a 2-run double down the left-field line as the Storm upped its lead to 5-2.

South Elgin added its fifth run of the inning on a Batavia throwing error following Geneva Pollman's infield single.

"Casey's a stud," said South Elgin coach Brad Reynard. "Her home run kind of catapulted us but Haley (Szubert) put a good swing on the bat as well and McKayla (Timmons) is always a threat.

"Up and down the lineup if we cut down on our strikeouts a little bit, we're a dangerous team."

In the fifth, the Storm batted around for the second time, capitalizing on a pair of Batavia errors thanks in part to Brynn Warrick's 2-run bloop single down the right-field line and an RBI single from Spivey.

"They're starting to play with some confidence and letting it rip at the plate," said Reynard. "We were pretty good today."

Batavia jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second on consecutive RBI singles from Jaeden Lisberg and Rachael Lovestrand.

However, the Bulldogs stranded 8 runners in the first 3 innings, leaving the bases loaded without scoring in the first and third frames.

Coming up empty in those early innings came back to bite the Bulldogs.

"It does when your defense is a little shaky," said Batavia coach Lupe Castellanos. "You've got to be able to put those runs up on the board to give yourself a little comfort on the defensive end. Somebody has to come through with a big hit.

"It seems like it has been like this in a lot of our games where we start out red-hot and then our offense stays still. We really didn't hit the ball with authority."

Pollman went the distance for the Storm, striking out 4 while also backed by 3 double plays from her defense over the last 4 innings.

"I'll take that all day every day," Reynard said of holding Batavia to a pair of runs. "She (Pollman) did a fantastic job. Getting out of those first 2-3 innings were tricky but she got better as the game went on."

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