Softball: McMahon, Barrington meet Fremd's challenge

Not too many pitchers have had success against Fremd's fine-hitting lineup this spring.

But Barrington junior Catherine McMahon, who has been one of the state's most successful pitchers with a 13-1 record, was up to the mighty task on Wednesday in Palatine.

With the Vikings known for their comeback prowess, McMahon made sure they would not produce one this time and closed out a 4-hitter by retiring the side in order in the bottom of the seventh to give Barrington a 4-1 win at Fremd.

The Fillies (20-1, 8-0) own a 2-game lead over Palatine (15-4, 6-2) and Conant (11-4, 6-2) in the Mid-Suburban West while Fremd is 3 games back at 10-5 and 5-3.

Barrington also reached quite a milestone, becoming the first MSL softball team to win 20 game in 25 consecutive seasons.

"McMahon did a really nice job hitting her spots all game long," said Fremd coach Josh Teschner.

The game was scoreless through five innings. But back-to-back two-out RBI singles by Jenna Patino and Tori Meyer scored pinch runner Caroline Hoppe and shortstop Julia Kozar to give the visitors a 2-0 lead.

"I thought we thought we had to keep focused at the plate," said Barrington coach Perry Peterson. "Nikki Kehoe (a Fremd junior who went 6⅔ innings) pitched a real good game. We just had to be patient enough to get the pitches we wanted and hit the ball solid. It took a while but it worked out at the end."

Things started working offensively for the Vikings in the bottom of the sixth when they scored their run. After Jess Mazur was retired for the second out on a deep flyball just in front of the right field fence, catcher Lexi D'Ambrosio singled off the second baseman's glove. Anne Marie O'Sullivan then lined a single to left, followed by Anna Freveletti's RBI single to center.

But McMahon was able to get the next batter on a grounder back to the mound before her three-up, three-down seventh inning.

"I have a lot of confidence in my defense," McMahon said. "They played amazing the whole game. I was just trying to hit my spots the best I could and rely on every one behind me to make the outs."

"It feels amazing," McMahon added of the perfect conference season thus far. "We've been having a great season and we hope to continue that."

"It's fantastic," said Fillies senior center fielder Carly Kordich (3-for-4), the game's only player with 3 hits (bunt, infield hit and bloop). "It feels good to know we are coming out strong and our hitting has been coming through. Small ball is really important to me, and I trust all my teammates to move me around the bases."

The Fillies moved around the bases for 2 insurance runs in the top of the seventh.

Kordich led off with her bloop single to left and came home with courtesy runner Katherine Stagnito on a single to right by Kendall Peterson (2-for-4) to make it 4-1.

Jacobsen, who had a big hit in the seventh, went 2-for-4 and caught all seven innings for McMahon.

"Catherine was awesome," Jacobsen said."She was hitting her spots. We had some that were on the edge and we were fighting and fighting and we finally got them.

"My team and I have been working really, really hard in practice and in all our games. We've just been battling really hard and trying to hit the ball hard and play defense the best we can."

Haley Luczak, Patino and Tori Meyer and Rachel Mori also had hits for the Fillies.

"We came through with some timely and big hits at the end," Perry Peterson said.

And McMahon came through some big pitches.

"You can't expect to come back every single game," Teschner said. "We knew that and especially against a team like this, and needing 4 runs."

Fremd's 4 hits were by Reagan Schneider, Freveletti, D'Ambrosio and O'Sullivan. Center fielder Hannah Ban had a busy day, making one catch in each of the final 5 innings.

"We feel comfortable with what she can do," Teschner said. "It's all new training because we've had the same girl (Butler's Alyssa Garcia) there for the last four years. And Hannah is doing a good job. She's getting more and more confident every game."

Ban also pitched for the Vikings along with Mazur, who came to the mound on to get the final out of the top of the seventh on a groundout to second baseman Becca Uhrich, who made a great dive to her left and a nice backhand toss to O'Sullivan at first to rob Kozar of a hit.

"We feel that we can play strong against any team, whether it's Barrington, Lockport or Oak Park-River Forest," Teschner said. "There's not a team we do not think we can play with. It's just a matter of getting the hits when you need them most. When you get runners on base, you've got to play. Popouts aren't going to do it and groundouts on our front foot are not going to help us. It's a matter of squaring the ball up when the time is right and plating the run."