Eisenberg cleaning up for Maine W.

Maine West softball coach Mike Murin noticed that senior Nicole Eisenberg has been showing more power with the bat.

Thus, for the first in time in her career, the senior was put in the cleanup spot Friday sport.

She made her coach look prophetic.

Eisenberg belted her first career home run over the centerfield fence to lead off the fourth inning and reached base in all 3 at-bats as the Warriors and ace junior right-hander Emily Ott beat host Buffalo Grove 3-0.

"I told my assistant coach (Caeli Sievert) I had a hunch on this," Murin said. "And I moved her to No. 4. Sometimes you're lucky, sometimes it backfires. But she'd been hitting solid and I thought she might have a good game today."

"I'm good with anywhere in the order," said Eisenberg, who hit in multiple spots a year ago. "Put me wherever and I'll do my best to get on base."

No. 3 hitter Jacki Janecek (3-for-4) also got on base three times for the Warriors (6-2) while Jenna Depa went 2-for-4 with a run as the leadoff batter.

Coming off back-to-back 1-hitters on consecutive days, Ott (5-1) tossed a 3-hitter while for her fourth shutout in Maine West's last 5 games.

"What I'm most pleased about is all the shutouts and our defense," Murin addd.

"Maine West is a good team and she (Ott) is a good pitcher," said BG coach Laura Stock. "Last year she was getting us with high pitches and I thought we did a better job with that this time as we did against Glenbrook South against their pitcher (two weeks ago)."

Murin remembered last year's game with the Bison, too.

"We played against Katie Lee (Bison catcher who caught a runner stealing and picked one off first base on Friday) for four straight years and we knew she is an outstanding player," Murin said. "And Stephanie Rudolfi (senior shortstop) hit us hard last year, too.

"We kind of focused on them in the order. And I thought Michelle Braun (Warriors senior catcher) called a great game."

Braun and Katie Lowe also had hits for Maine West off Bison freshman Emily Begnel (0-1), who struck out four in her varsity debut.

Freshman second baseman K.C. Dunne (2-for-3) had 2 of BG's hits while freshman Andrea DiPrima had the other for the Bison (1-2).

Dunne also made a nice relay throw to Lee at home to catch a runner trying to score on Ott's RBI single in the sixth.

"Their pitcher was quick and got us on a lot of high pitches," Dunne said. "We just have to learn from our mistakes. We've got to communicate better on the field."

Stock was grateful the game could be played.

"It was questionable all day with the field conditions," she said. "But our groundskeepers were out there all day, and even our assistant principal Mark Schaetzlein was out there working after them."

Elk Grove 5, Glenbrook S. 4:ŒSophomore Stephanie Maday (4-0) threw the final two innings (2 strikeouts, 2 hits) for the win while Krystina Leazer (6 strikeouts) went the first five.

Host Elk Grove (5-1) trailed 4-3 going into the bottom of the seventh but won it on Stephanie Dolce's (2-for-4) infield single, which brought home Jessica Balzano with one out.

Amanda Mertes' infield hit drove in Brittany Tranchita to tie the game at 4-4.

Mertes was 4-for-4 with 2 stolen bases, 2 runs and an RBI. Caitlin Garrison was 2-for-3.

Barrington 7, Bradford (Wis.) 2: The Fillies (7-1) defeated one of Wisconsin's top teams (4-1 Red Devils from Kenosha) despite trailing 2-0 going into the bottom of the fifth. The Fillies then scored 5 runs and added 2 in the sixth.

Devinne Wapotish's 2-run single to left tied the game at 2-2 in the fifth, then freshman Kristin Kuhn's single to left gave the Fillies the lead.

Winning pitcher Kim Cygan (7-1) capped the scoring in the fifth with a 2-run single to left. She also struck out six.

Michal Jane Maropis' third homer of the season, a 2-run shot, came in the sixth.

Colleen Shandley went 2-for-4 with 1 run.

Schaumburg 3, Larkin 1: If the first two games of the season are a barometer of any kind, Schaumburg junior right-hander Missy Anderson could turn some heads this spring.

After opening the season with a win over St. Viator on Thursday, Anderson came out on Friday and spun a 3-hitter as the Saxons made it a 2-0 start with a 3-1 win over Larkin in a nonconference game in Elgin.

Anderson struck out a career-high 12 batters and pitched out of three different jams to hold the Royals (2-3) at bay. She struck out Larkin's first six batters and got the first 9 outs of the game via the K.

"My screwball was definitely cutting the corner and catching batters off guard," said Anderson. "I definitely felt very confident (after the early strikeouts). It wasn't that they couldn't touch me but it was going to be very tough."

Anderson's counterpart, Larkin senior Sarah McCleary, pitched well enough, striking out 8 and allowing just 4 hits but a bout with wildness in the third and fifth innings cost her a shot at the win.

Schaumburg jumped on top in the third inning when Rachel Borgman led off with a double to the right-center field gap, went to third on Meghan Fielmann's slap single then scored when McCleary walked Caitlin Becker and Aly Poehlmann to force home Borgman with the game's first run.

The Saxons put the game away with 2 runs in the top of the sixth. Poehlmann and Anderson each reached on fielder's choices and both later scored, one on a wild pitch and one on a passed ball.

Schaumburg coach Erin Doyle was glad to see Anderson pitch out of a couple jams.

"Missy threw another great game," Doyle said. "We got into some pressure situations and the defense stepped up. We weren't hitting at all but our base-running was great. We got into scoring position and capitalized on what was given to us."

-- John Radtke

Leyden 6, IC 1: Freshman pitcher Amanda Moran threw a 4-hitter for Leyden (4-3) with 5 strikeouts.