Softball: Schaumburg surprises West champ Barrington

Talk about a confidence-builder heading into the softball postseason, which begins next week.

Playing at the Fields of Dreams on Tuesday, Schaumburg got a dream win when the Saxons surprised Class 4A state powerhouse Barrington 5-3 in the final Mid-Suburban West game of the season.

Visiting Schaumburg (13-14, 9-7), which finished fifth in the ever-competitive West Division, handed Barrington (30-3, 15-1) its only loss in the West.

The Fillies will visit MSL East champ Hersey (22-6, 11-5) for the MSL championship on Thursday at 4:30 p.m. They finished three games ahead of Palatine and Conant (both 12-4) in the West.

Tuesday's game actually began last Wednesday and had to be postponed due to rain with Schaumburg leading 4-0 in the bottom of the second inning.

"We weren't what we used to be this season, and we recognized that," said third basemen Natalie Napier who played on Schaumburg's MSL championship team in 2015. "So winning against Barington is something we really wanted to do. Especially with the rain delay, we wanted to come back with the same intensity so we get the win.

"We were all unified together and as a team collectively. Everyone contributed, piece by piece. This was a great team win."

Senior and Wisconsin-Whitewater recruit Michelle Birkholz (5-8) notched the win, throwing a 6-hitter and striking out one batter in each of the last four innings to finishing with 5 strikeouts.

"Michelle pitched awesome," said Saxons senior center fielder Kaiden Jackson, also a Wisconsin-Whitewater recruit who went 2-for-4. "She had such a solid game. We always know she's going to have our back."

The Saxons had Birkholz's back, scoring 4 runs in the second inning last Wednesday.

Senior Micaela Encarnacion had a 2-run single in that inning.

"I'm so happy for our team," said Encarnacion (2-for-3), who will play volleyball and softball at Ripon College. "This was a great win for the rest of the our season."

Napier, Summer Schulz (2-for-3) and Jackson (double) also had hits in the 4-run rally.

Barrington got 1 run back in the bottom of the second inning when sophomore Tori Meyer singled home classmate Kendall Peterson (leadoff walk) with one out."

But with two runners on base and on one out, Birkholz escaped the jam with a lineout to freshman shortstop Talia Torosian and a strikeout

"Overall, we played good defense and we stayed so focused to get the win," Jackson added. "We're really happy we just won that game."

Barrington cut the deficit in half when Meyer scored on a passed ball in the fourth inning. The Saxons got the run back in the top of the sixth. Schulz reached on a two-out error, went to second on a walk to Jayme Kissamis and eventually came home on an error.

In its final at-bat, Barrington got a one-out double from Rachel Krzysko, who then stole third and came home on Abbey Jacobsen's single to center.

Encarnacion's catch in left field ended the game.

Brittney Butt and Napier also had base hits for Schaumburg while Jenna Patino went 2-for-3 for Barrington.

Meyer, who gave up 1 unearned run in five relief innings (Catherine McMahon started), also had a base hit.

"I thought we played better than we did last week in the rain," said Barrington coach Perry Peterson. "But credit Schaumburg. They played well today and deserved to win."

The Saxons come right back today to visit Rolling Meadows in the MSL season-ending crossover game.

"We definitely came here with intensity, and that was one of the big things," said Saxons coach Ellen Abreu. "We played together and supported each other through the good and the bad. We came out together as a team and got the win."