Softball: Streamwood ousts Elgin

Streamwood's patient approach paid off Monday in a 9-3 win over Elgin in a play-in game of the Class 4A Elk Grove softball regional.

The Sabres drew 9 walks, enabling them to turn only 6 hits into those 9 runs and keep their season alive. No. 13 seed Streamwood (12-14) will play at No. 4 Elk Grove on Tuesday.

"It's sad the play-in game you are like oh shoot but hopefully we'll go far and surprise people," Streamwood catcher Becky Roncone said. "We're hoping to keep the season going as long as we can."

Roncone had 2 of the team's 6 hits and also drew a walk. Both of her hits were doubles.

"It's always nice to contribute. A lot of us are getting hits and that's always nice to see," Roncone said. "We're really anxious, we're not always good with slower pitchers. It takes a lot of work to watch it go by."

Elgin (1-29) started Dannah Perryman, who gave up a leadoff walk and a 2-run double to Roncone before two more walks loaded the bases.

Maroons coach Jenna Szabo made a pitching change seven batters in, and junior Ashley Estrada came in and escaped the bases-loaded, 1-out jam by inducing two pop-ups. She also worked around three errors to pitch a scoreless second.

"She's been helping us a ton this year," Szabo said.

Walks again cost Elgin in the third. Three free passes loaded the bases, and Leandra Gottscalk drove in 1 run with a groundout before Laura Dietrich doubled in 2 more to make it 5-0.

Ariana Wolfard retired the first 9 Maroons until Lexi Ruiz led off the fourth with a double. She scored Elgin's first run on a single by Nayelli Sanchez.

Ruiz also launched a triple to deep left field to plate two more runs in the fifth. That was all Wolfard allowed, finishing with 7 strikeouts and just 1 walk and 3 hits.

"Her movement was really good today and her speed seemed a lot faster," Roncone said. "Especially with the wind it was breaking well. She's been working hard."

Melissa Hart added an RBI groundout in the fourth and a run-scoring double in the sixth for the Sabres.

"Couple times we left a few runners on but other than that we were hitting, we were patient," Sabres coach Will Shogren said. "That's all you can ask for. Whenever you are patient it works well."

The loss ended a difficult season for the Maroons in Szabo's first as coach.

"It was a very tough year," Szabo said. "We just tried to stay positive and keep building on the little positives we had. It's difficult but they know at the end of the day it's a game. All I asked for them this year was play hard. If we lose at least we lost putting all our effort into it."