Softball: Ulaszek, Bartlett down South Elgin

Bartlett softball pitcher Janelle Ulaszek did something not many pitchers have been able to do this year and that is hold South Elgin in check.

The Storm have been putting up some impressive offensive numbers most of the season, but Ulaszek managed to stymie the Storm's bats to just 4 hits in a 4-2 Upstate Eight Conference Valley Division win for the Hawks Friday.

Ulaszek was effective even without her best pitch - the changeup - not working very well.

"I was a little off with my change up so I had to rely on some of my other pitches," Ulaszek said. "I was going with a lot of curveballs and screwballs and just trying to hit my spots on the corners."

Ulaszek struck out 4 and got 10 groundball outs while only walking 2 batters.

"I was really impressed with her performance today," Bartlett coach Jim Wolfsmith said. "Especially struggling with her best pitch against a team that really hit. She spun it and moved the ball well. She had to make some tough pitches in some tough spots."

Ulaszek left 5 runners stranded over the last 3 innings.

Bartlett (12-6-1, 5-3) trailed 1-0 before scoring a pair of runs in the fourth inning to go up 2-1. Taylor Rolondo drew a walk to start the inning and went to third on a double from Amber Pagan. Danielle Kleeman followed with a sacrifice to center for the Hawks' first run. The second run came in on an error.

The Hawks tacked on 2 more runs in the fifth inning. Charlotte Linartz led off with a single and later scored on bases loaded walk to Pagan. Kleeman then followed with her second sacrifice fly of the game.

"That's good old fashioned softball," Wolfsmith said. "Get 'em on. Get 'em over. And get 'em in. We were squaring it up pretty good and getting some good team at-bats."

The Storm (8-9) scored their first run on an RBI single by Brynn Warrick in the third inning that scored Haley Szubert, who had led off the inning with a single. Warrick added an RBI double in the seventh inning.

Geneva Pollman was the starting and tough-luck losing pitcher for the Storm. She went the distance. Only 2 of the 4 runs she surrendered were earned.

"The story of the game was for us was the top of our order went 0-for-17," South Elgin coach Brad Reynard said. "Hats off to their pitcher. She did a good job of spinning it and keeping us off the bases, We hit the ball on the nose a few times, but we needed more than two runs to beat a team like Bartlett."