Wheaton Warrenville South handcuffs South Elgin

Jeff Pawlak expects his Wheaton Warrenville South softball team to be sound defensively this year, and that's just what the Tigers displayed Tuesday in their season opener at The Dome at the Ballpark at Rosemont.

Wheaton Warrenville South followed a 3-1 win over DeKalb with another 3-1 victory over South Elgin as Izzy Fawcett held the Storm to 3 hits while her teammates played error-free behind her.

"We had a great defensive game," Fawcett said. "I felt really supported. I had a great defense behind me. I think we'll only get better from here."

Wheaton Warrenville South (2-0) scored all its runs in the first two innings. Aerin Moberg led off the bottom of the first with a single, stole second, took third on a groundout and scored on Kaitlyn Bresingham's sacrifice fly to center.

The Tigers scored two more runs in the second. Abby Struebing reached on an error and came in when Megan Adamek blasted a ball just over South Elgin left fielder Geneva Pollman's glove. Two batters later Adamek scored on a groundout by Kara Struebing to make it 3-0.

With the way Fawcett was pitching and the Tigers played defense behind her, that was all WW South needed. Fawcett struck out eight and walked none.

"She worked ahead the whole day," Pawlak said. "Strike one, strike two which is huge. She did a nice job.

"This is one of the best defensive teams we've had in awhile. We've got some good young talent on this team."

Pollman relieved Allyssa Kendall in the third inning for South Elgin (1-5). Pollman didn't allow a hit over her four innings, giving up just one baserunner when she hit a batter.

"Geneva pitched her best game," South Elgin coach Brad Reynard said. "She pitched lights out. Our pitching one through five will keep us in a lot of games."

South Elgin scored its only run in the fifth. Sami Koss hit a sinking liner that got past the Tigers center fielder and went for a triple. She scored on a wild pitch.

Offense has been an issue for the Storm in the early going this year. They went 1-4 on a trip to Tennessee last week.

"Our pitch selection was pretty poor throughout the game," Reynard said. "We got ourselves out in a lot of scenarios, some weak contact early in the game. We want to be aggressive at the plate and with a young team that's sometimes a pill you have to swallow."

Fawcett said her curve and screw were her two best pitches Tuesday.

"I threw a lot of screwballs at the righthand batters," Fawcett said. "I like playing outdoors better but playing indoors gives us an opportunity to get the reps in before we get to conference. I'm glad we had the opportunity."

The Tigers will get four more opportunities at the Dome with doubleheaders scheduled Wednesday or Thursday.

"We've been coming here the last five years," Pawlak said. "We keep them home over break because it is insured we'll get our games in. We have our baseball team who just canceled their trip to Tennessee. A ton of teams have. This works for us."

The Storm hopes the more games their newcomers get in will help their offense come around.

"We're struggling offensively," Reynard said. "It happens when you have seven new starters. We're scuffling offensively for sure. We'll keep working. We'll get better."