Happy Fling for Fillies
Even home plate umpire Dan Krueger was impressed.
The veteran local umpire, who worked the Class AA state softball finals just 10 months ago, must have felt like he never left East Peoria.
"This game could have been a state series game," he said after watching Barrington edge Lake Zurich 3-2 in the championship game of the Spring Fling tourney Thursday at the Fields of Dreams.
In a game that had no walks or errors, Barrington junior Kim Cygan struck out a season-high 11 and Lake Zurich senior Katie Buczynski had 6 strikeouts.
"What an exciting game," said Cygan (3-0). "It was stressful, but a good stressful.
"This (winning the Spring Fling) is an awesome stepping stone. We wanted to get some momentum going into spring break so this is a good starting point."
"It's a great way to start the season," added Cygan's batterymate, Devinne Wapotish, who also started out great with 7 hits in her first 8 at bats.
The Fillies (3-0) grabbed a 3-0 lead after 3 innings, getting a one-out, 2-run bases-loaded single to left center by Kristin Kuhn, which brought home shortstop Michal Jane Maropis and Cygan.
Lisa Shandley led off the third with an infield hit, beating out a grounder to short. She advanced to second on Wapotish's groundout, took third on a wild pitch and scored on Maropis' sacrifice fly to right.
"Coach (Perry) Peterson always tells us if we can get 3 runs, we've got a good chance to win," Wapotish said. "That's what we try to do -- get the runs early."
The Bears (2-1) got on the board in the third when Brittany Stezskal led off with a triple to the right-center gap and came home on Coryn Schmit's 2-out single to left-center.
They added their second run in the bottom of the sixth.
Ella Aslan singled down the first-base line and Schmit put down a perfect bunt hit.
The runners advanced to second and third on Buczynski's groundout to short, before Aslan came home on Chrissie Wichmann's groundout to Kuhn at third.
"Barrington did a nice job," said Lake Zurich coach Becky Lewandowski. "After falling behind 3-0, it was huge the way our girls stayed in the game and came back I'm not disappointed at all.
"You've got to hand it to Barrington. They put on a great tournament. It's a credit to them we were all able to play. We'd been trapped inside practicing for so long. We were excited to come here and play."
Colleen Shandley and Jessica McGurn also had hits for the Fillies while Kyra Boyer had one for the Bears.
Cygan struck out the first two batters in the seventh and got the final out on a grounder to Maropis.
"Coach (Peterson) called a lot of rise balls which I really like," Cygan added. "I just try to focus on what he calls and try to do my best."
Maine West 4, Hersey 3 (10 innings): Junior Emily Ott struck out 17 as Maine West (1-2) finally prevailed on freshman Amanda Wessell's infield hit with the bases loaded to score Ott.
Nicole Eisenberg (2-for-5), Caryn McGinley (2-for-4, double) and Michelle Braun (2-for-5) led the Warriors in the seventh-place game.
Melanie Standish had 2 hits and 3 RBI for the Huskies (0-3) while teammates Lynn Lazzeretti and Danielle Gore also had hits. Senior Mallory Donoghue struck out six in 8 innings while sophomore Kristy Johnson had 3 strikeouts in the final 2 innings.
Glenbrook South 4, BG 1: Bison freshman Maria Dax struck out 11 in her varsity debut. Senior catcher Katie Lee threw out two runners trying to steal and had one of BG's 3 hits.
Freshmen K.C. Dunne (triple) and Mallory Smith had the other hits for BG (0-1).
Bison freshman Andrea DiPrima and junior Lexi Bueno reached on walks off South Dakota State recruit Pam Nicholson, a southpaw who struck out 15 for the host Titans (1-0).