Softball: Barrington hopes upset is in the cards

EAST PEORIA - The last time Barrington softball team was here in 2015, so were the other three teams in this weekend's Class 4A state finals at the EastSide Centre.

This year's Final Four includes the Fillies, Lincoln-Way East, Oak Park and Marist, which won that 2015 tourney over Lincoln-Way East.

Barrington fell in the semifinals to Lincoln-Way East that season and wound up with fourth place.

"Now we just shuffle the deck," said Fillies coach Perry Peterson whose team (36-3) will face the ace of the field, No. 1-ranked Oak Park (35-1) in Friday's 3 p.m. semifinal.

The Huskies have defeated Illinois teams in 61 straight games.

"They are defending state champions," Peterson said. "We look forward to taking on the challenge of playing anyone. We are willing to risk it all to do our best."

The Fillies were the best in the Mid-Suburban League this season.

The Huskies were the best in the state, holding the No. 1 ranking in the Illinois Coaches Association from day one.

Oak Park defeated Barrington 3-2 in the 2015 third-place game.

Peterson and Oak Park coach Mel Kolbusz also faced off in the 1993 state quarterfinals when Barrington won in dramatic fashion 3-2.

Peterson and Kolbusz were rookie coaches at their respective schools that year.

The next season, they met in a nonconference game on May 21, 1994 when Daily Herald all-area honorary captain Kathy Bederske threw a 5-0 shutout.

So Friday marks the fourth meeting between two Illinois hall of fame coaches.

Peterson, the third-winningest coach in the state, is 778-183 (including one season at St. Viator) while Kolbusz, No. 5 in the state, is 711-212-2.

At least six future Division I and one D-II recruits will be on the diamond when two teams play for the chance to meet either Marist (25-7) or Lincoln Way East (29-3) in Saturday's 5:30 p.m. championship game.

The Huskies feature standout left-handed senior pitcher Chardonnay Harris (Auburn), sophomore second baseman Fiona Giradot (Wisconsin) and junior shortstop Maeve Nelson (Northwestern).

Harris, the Illinois Gatorade player of the year, owns a 17-0 record, having allowed 31 hits and 4 earned in 104⅔ innings for a 0.27 ERA. She has 207 strikeouts.

Giradot is batting .620 with 21 doubles and 59 RBI while Nelson is batting. 529 with 12 homers and 61 RBI.

Headed for big-time college programs for Barrington are senior right fielder Rachel Krzysko (Purdue), senior Carly Kordich (Winona State), junior catcher Abbey Jacobsen (Loyola) and sophomore outfielder Leyden Atlas (Rutgers).

Krzysko and Kordich started in the 2015 semifinal loss to Lincoln-Way East while current Fillies Haley Luczak (senior first baseman), junior second baseman Jenna Patino, senior shortstop Julia Kozar, Jacobsen and Catherine MacMahon also saw action in the game.

As a freshman in that game, McMahon threw 1⅓ innings.

Now a junior, she has been one of the state's elite hurlers, compiling a 25-2 record while sophomore Tori Meyer and junior Caroline Hoppe are a combined 11-1.

Peterson's ninth trip to the state finals takes on an added significance.

For the first time in MSL softball history, a coach will be downstate with his daughter playing on the team.

Sophomore Kendall Peterson is the Fillies' all-area third baseman.

As a three-year-old, Kendall was at the Fillies' 2004 state finals appearance in the care of her mother Jennifer. Kendall's childhood idol was the Fillies' Abby Reed, the standout pitcher on that team who was also the Daily Herald Cook County all-area honorary captain.

One of the first texts Kendall received after Monday's supersectional win over Warren was from Reed, now living in Chicago. Abby wanted to congratulate Kendall on making it downstate," Perry Peterson said. " It really meant a lot to Kendall."

Completing the Barrington roster are junior Rachel Mori, sophomore Samantha Murphy, sophomore Gabbi Kraus, junior Maria Gryzlo, sophomore Gina Magro, junior Jessica Bellis, sophomore Katherine Stagnito and sophomore Caroline Huttinger.

While the Fillies have been favored in just about every game they've played this spring, they know the roles are reversed this time.

"When you (Oak Park) are the defending champion and have won 61 in a row against Illinois teams, I would think you are the favorite," Perry Peterson said. "But we'll take on the challenge."

Just like it is written on the Fillies white T-shirts that they and their fans will wearing this weekend at the EastSide Centre.