Fillies frolic to pair of victories

Often, Michal Jane Maropis is called M.J.

Saturday, you could call her the first-inning kid.

Three hours after she belted a 3-run homer in Barrington's first at-bat against Stevenson, Maropis clubbed the big early hit to stake the Fillies to the lead in their second game against Mundelein in the Fillies quad.

The senior shortstop ripped a triple down the right-field line scoring Colleen Shandley and Lisa Shandley with one out in the first inning.

The 2 runs proved all senior Kim Cygan needed for her second victory of the day, this time 3-1.

Cygan went threw a 2-hitter, retiring 17 of the last 18 batters she faced.

"M.J. was huge today with her hitting," said Cygan, who has all five of Barrington's wins this spring.

"Michal Jane is just a fantastic player," said Barrington coach Perry Peterson. "She understands the game so well. She is someone we can count on."

Senior Leslie Harshey led off the game for Mundelein with a single to right-center and later came home to score when Kaitlin Yoder reached on a fielder's choice.

The only other hit off Cygan was a single by Michelle Mitchum in the second inning.

Junior Kim Krause went all 7 innings for Mundelein, giving up 1 run and 3 hits in the final 6 innings.

"Kim Krause did a great job," said Mundelein coach Ted Juske. "What impressed me the most was that she didn't tire out at all. Her dad (Ken) keeps her in quality condition.

"Overall, I was really pleased. This was the first time we were on an infield. We had a couple of errors this game and we have to hit better."

Top hitters for the Fillies were Colleen Shandley and Lisa Shandley who each had 2 hits.

Wapotish's sacrifice fly to left brought home Colleen Shandley in the sixth for the Fillies' 3-1 lead.

Cygan finished strong, allowing the only baserunner in the final five innings on a dropped third strike.

"Kim threw two game and wasn't even tired," Wapotish said. "She could have kept pitching. This (5-0) has been a perfect start to what we hope is great season. Hopefully, all the way into June."

Barrington 6, Stevenson 0: Just a few days ago on spring break, Kim Cygan was throwing strikes to her father on the beach in sunny Marco Island, Fla.

Saturday morning, the Barrington junior was back in the sand, still throwing strikes.

This time, she was on the Fields of Dreams softball diamond.

Replacing her father Dave as her catcher was senior Devinne Wapotish, who caught Cygan's 3-hitter in a 6-0 victory over Stevenson to start the Barrington quad tournament.

Cygan (5-0 after Saturday) struck out six and walked just one.

"Devinne did a great job to get me a lot calls, for sure," Cygan said. "And we did a great job buckling down on defense."

Cygan got all the runs she needed in the first inning off the bat of shortstop Michal Jane Maropis (2-for-3, 3 RBI).

The senior belted her second homer of the spring. Her one-out right field blast with Wapotish and Colleen Shandley on base gave the Fillies a 3-0 lead.

The Fillies (5-0 after the quad) added 3 more runs in the third, getting RBI singles from Jessica McGurn and Cygan. McGurn scored the sixth run when she can home on Kiersten Tinkoff's grounder out to first.

Traci Africk's single to start the game and 2 singles by Claire Kirchner in the third and fifth were the only hits for Stevenson in its season opener.

"This was our first time out of the gym," said Stevenson coach Larry Friedrichs. "Barrington is strong every season. This showed us the things we could do indoors we have top learn to do outdoors."

Friedrichs pitched sophomore Jordan Willis for the first 3 innings and classmate Allison Micucci for the final four. Micucci gave up no runs and 3 hits.

"Allison came up to the varsity last year," added Friedrichs, who graduated 10 players. "So she got a little seasoning. If we could have had a better start in the first inning (got first two runners on base but no runs), we could have had them on their heels."

Senior Lisa Shandley (2-for-3) and junior Lindsay Dulla (3 steals) each had 3 hits for the Fillies.

"Offensively, Lindsey Dulla is making a difference for us," said Fillies coach Perry Peterson. "She has the right temperament in the batter's box. Giving up no runs was a positive for us this game. Kim (Cygan) did a good job."