Corsairs fall short vs. Fillies
With 11 titles, Barrington's softball team is the elite of Mid-Suburban League.
The Fillies are also in the league's "elite" when it comes to state tournament play.
For the fifth consecutive time, the Fillies have landed a spot in the Elite Eight as they defeated Carmel 10-3 Saturday to win their own sectional at the Fields of Dreams.
"It's exciting," said Barrington junior ace pitcher Kim Cygan, who played third base for last year's Class AA state runner-up squad.
This year, Barrington won a Class 4A sectional crown and advances to Monday's Elgin supersectional, hosted by Northern Illinois University.
The Fillies (29-6) will face Crystal Lake South (18-13) at 4:30 p.m. on Mary M. Bell Field.
Corsairs' No 5 hitter Shea Crowley, a junior first baseman, belted towering home runs in the second (solo to left center) and third (2-run shot to center) to give Carmel a 3-2 lead.
"She (Crowley) was on fire in batting practice, too," said Carmel coach Jason Raymond.
But the six-time defending MSL champs scored twice in the bottom of third and 6 times in the fourth to give Cygan all the run support she needed to improve to 28-6.
Crowley's first homer of the season came in her first at-bat when she served as a pinch hitter against Grayslake Central in early April.
"You've got to tip your cap to her (Crowley)," said Fillies coach Perry Peterson. "She really hit them both well.
"We changed some pitching strategy with Kim (after three innings). I think she adjusted very well."
Cygan (4 hits, 9 strikeouts) wiggled out of a one-out, bases-loaded jam in the second when she struck out the next two batters on seven pitches.
After falling behind 3-2, the Fillies took advantage of back-to-back hits by senior left fielder Lisa Shandley and senior catcher Devinne Wapotish to lead off the bottom of the third.
After they went to second and third on a grounder back to the mound, Cygan doubled them home to give herself the lead for good.
Carmel sophomore ace Rachel Tack (14-11) avoided further damage when she struck out the next batter and got the final out on a groundout to shortstop Kelly Cook.
"They are good hitters and they took advantage of our mistakes," said Carmel coach Jason Raymond, whose team was also the No. 12 sectional seed a year ago when it lost to Barrington in the Mundelein supersectional.
"The thing about this game is that we had a couple of uncharacteristic plays in the field that we didn't make most of the season. That was not what we were about this season. And Barrington is a great team and capitalized on them."
Cook and Meg Grady had the only other hits for Carmel besides Crowley's two blasts.
"Barrington had to beat us 10-3," Raymond said. "Because if this is a 1-run game, I'm pretty confident our seniors could have pulled it out. But Barrington's a great a team and jumped on us in that fourth inning.
"We've got a lot of seniors (Caitlin Hendricks, Nicole Bersani, Cook, Michelle Winegard, Kelli Gerli, Courtney Ryan, Erin Reilly and Katie Cornell) and a lot of them played three years on the varsity. I'm proud of them all."