Softball: Meyer's grab helps Barrington clinch West tie
It was quite appropriate that Barrington left fielder Tori Meyer made a beautiful shoestring grab for the final out of the Fillies' 2-0 victory over Conant that clinched a tie for the Mid-Suburban West softball title on Monday.
After all, it was Barrington's defense for seven innings that helped the Fillies maintain the shutout and secure their 17th consecutive season with 25 wins or more.
Conant had two runners on base for four consecutive innings (three through six) and the Fillies answered the call each time with defense and the pitching of junior of Catherine McMahon, who raised her record to 16-1.
Barrington improved to 25-1 and 13-0 in the Mid-Suburban West, 3 games ahead of 10-3 Conant, Fremd and Palatine with three to play.
"It's hard to play under defensive pressure (with runners on base) like that," said Fillies senior first baseman Haley Luczak who delivered the game-winning RBI in the first inning. "But we go through those situations on defense every day at practice."
"We practice those plays every day," added Carly Kordich, who doubled to lead off the game and scored on Luczak's two-out single to right center. "We make sure our defense is strong and comes ready to play. We know we've got to prevent those runners from scoring. We've got to keep adding runs with our offense and holding them down with our defense."
Kordich also helped the Fillies add their second run in the third inning.
She singled to center with one out, alertly hustled to third on Rachel Krzysko's single to center and scored on Abbey Jacobsen's groundout to short.
Krzysko's single was the last hit for Barrington as Conant senior Sam Gadomski (9-2) allowed just 1 hit and no runs in the final four innings.
The Cougars outhit Barrington 7-5 and were led by junior leadoff batter Makenna McCarthy (2-for-4) and senior Morgan Bihun (2-for-4), who got robbed of a third hit. Krzysko came charging in to make the grab of Bihun's flyball in the second inning with Carly Rossdeutcher on first base after she'd singled to left.
Cougars senior catcher Lauren Grzelak, who threw out a runner trying to steal second, also had a hit for Conant (17-5, 10-3).
"I'm really proud with way we came out for this game," said Conant coach Cathyann Smith, one of three ICA softball hall of famers in the game along with Barrington coach Perry Peterson and home plate umpire Dan Krueger. "We had some sad news with the sudden passing of a travel coach for our girls who was part of our Conant Cougar family.
"It was a pretty tough week but the girls came out and attacked. We just didn't finish when we needed to."
McMahon (6 strikeouts,1 walk) escaped the fourth inning with back-to-back strikeouts, the fifth with a groundball interference call and a strikeout and the sixth with a fly out to Krzysko and grounder back to the mound.
"We left too many runners on base," Smith said. "But kudos to Barrington. They played excellent defense today. I'm not disappointed. We just know we've got to tweak a few things for the rest of the season. It was a tough game to get through for our girls but they have a have a lot of grit and I'm really proud of them for that."
Kordich, who like her counterpart center fielder in the game (McCarthy) is a Winona State recruit, was Barrington's only multiple hitter.
"We know Conant always battles," said Kordich, who like McCarthy is also a leadoff batter. "And they are great competitors."
Peterson's club can clinch the West outright with a win on Wednesday against visiting Schaumburg. He credits his team escaping multiple jams on Monday to pitching and defense.
"Some of that was just good pitching," he said. "Catherine ended some of the innings against great hitters with strikeouts. And some of it was just situational defense. It was people in the right spots at the right time keeping their heads and shoulders strong, making plays and stepping up when pressure moments occurred, like Tori Meyer's catch to end the game."