Borre's slugging helps Lake Zurich sweep
Jessi Borre hopes "slugging" will help her slug the softball.
When the Lake Zurich junior is at bat, she squares to bunt as the pitcher begins her windup, pulls the bat back, then looks to take a full swing.
She's doing this "slugging" technique all the time these days and on Saturday she slugged one. Far. Over Mundelein's fence, in fact, just to the right of the 185-feet sign in center field.
"I've been trying to slug to catch up with (the ball)," Borre said, "and I finally got a piece of it."
All that slugging made Borre the Bears' big slugger in Game 1. She hit the first over-the-fence grand slam of her entire softball career, capping an 11-run second inning to lead Lake Zurich to a 14-6 win.
Katie Buczynski fired a 2-hitter with 14 strikeouts and helped her own cause with a 2-run homer, as the Bears won the second game 3-0.
The doubleheader sweep moved Lake Zurich to 10-2 overall and 4-0 in the North Suburban Lake Division.
Mundelein fell to 4-9, 1-3.
"We always play tough games (with Mundelein)," Bears coach Becky Lewandowski said. "We always split with them, and that was our goal -- to try to sweep them."
Lake Zurich pounded out 14 hits in the opener, with leadoff-batter Ella Aslan, Coryn Schmit and Borre each getting three. Aslan had a pair of RBI singles, while Schmit doubled twice and knocked in three runs.
Brittany Stezskal started the scoring with a 2-run single in the second. Kyra Boyer had an RBI single, and Alex Block ripped a double.
"A lot of hitters are coming around," Lewandowski said. "We're picking up momentum big-time."
Count Borre among those Bears who are starting to swing the bat well.
Her slam -- her first she says since an inside-the-parker for the Lake County Glory travel team a couple of years ago -- came on a two-strike pitch from Mundelein starting pitcher Leslie Harshey.
"I knew I got a piece of it, but I had no idea it was going over that fence," Borre said.
"That's her first big hit," said Lewandowski, who batted Borre eighth in the lineup, before moving her up to sixth for Game 2. "She hasn't been hitting for me all season."
Buczynski, meanwhile, threw 3 perfect innings, striking out six, when Lewandowski pulled her to save her for Game 2.
Down 11-0, Mundelein responded with 4 runs in the fourth with two out.
Kaitlin Yoder (2-for-4) had an RBI double, and Jessica Bjerning and Jordan Lundsten followed with back-to-back run-scoring singles. After a walk, Khushali Rami hit an RBI single.
"Mundelein comes back all the time," Lewandowski said.
Lake Zurich went up 14-4 before Mundelein's Michelle Mitchem hit a 2-run homer in the seventh.
In Game 2, Chrissie Wichmann (2-for-2) gave Buczynski the only run she needed with a two-out RBI single in the first.
Buczynski's third homer of the season, with Schmit aboard with a base hit in the sixth, finished the scoring.
Harshey and Lundsten had Mundelein's only hits. Lake Zurich managed just 5 hits off Mustangs pitcher Kim Krause.