South Elgin on the right track

Great expectations may have been the reason behind South Elgin's slow start to the 2009 softball season.

Huh?

"We came in with some pretty high expectations," said Storm coach Jason Schaal, whose team started the season 0-3 but has now won 11 of its last 15 to stand at 11-7 heading into prom weekend.

There was no reason for South Elgin not to have high hopes for this season. The Storm returned a majority of its starters from the 2008 team that went 23-11 a year ago and lost 1-0 to Crystal Lake South in a Class 4A sectional championship game.

"We started out 0-3 and we've had four one-run losses to quality teams so I'm pretty happy where we're at," said Schaal, whose team rolled over a good Prairie Ridge team in a doubleheader sweep last weekend. "Lately the middle of the order has been on fire."

And how. Senior Kim Pierce leads the area in hitting with a .605 average, while Lauren Vitielo checks in at .500 and Courtney Bosteder at .423 for a squad hitting .350 as a team.

"It's been a lot of fun," Schaal said. "The girls are getting excited and they're starting to relax and have some fun. We played real well against a really good Prairie Ridge team."

While everyone knew the Storm had some powerful hitters back - seven players are currently hitting .300 or better - pitching was a bit of a question mark with Rebecca French having graduated. But senior Cary Thereon has stepped into the No. 1 role and done a nice job while Vitiello and Xenia Cerda have been capable backups. In fact Cerda, a junior, has the team's best ERA at 1.75. Thereon leads in wins with five.

"Cary's done an outstanding job," Schaal said. "Last year she got 10 starts when Rebecca had some arm soreness and she's come back and done a nice job this year. We've got a couple other pitchers so I've been able to rest (Thereon) a little. With Cary, once she gets a lead she settles down and pitches real well."

At 6-2 in the Upstate Eight Conference, the Storm is just one game out of the lead in the loss column in a conference that promises to be a fight to the finish, unlike a year ago when Bartlett stormed through the 20-game UEC schedule unbeaten.

"If people don't look at our conference as one of the strongest in the state I'd like to see who is," Schaal said. "Our conference has great competition and it's going to be a fun race."

Schaal and the Storm will get a pretty good idea by the end of next week if they're going to stay in the race for a while. Next week, South Elgin plays Neuqua Valley twice, St. Charles North and St. Charles East, all teams in the middle of the UEC race.

Another dogfight: As with the UEC, both Fox Valley Conference divisions look to come down to the wire. While Huntley, Johnsburg at Prairie Ridge are battling it out in the Fox Division, five of the six teams in the Valley - defending champ Jacobs as well as Cary-Grove, Crystal Lake South, Woodstock and McHenry - are all within a game of each other after the first of the three rounds of division play.

"It's been a topsy turvy season so far that's for sure," laughed Cary-Grove coach Tammy Olson, whose team is 3-2 in the Valley along with McHenry and Woodstock. "It just depends on who wants to separate it out. I'm pleased that we're in it. After the first round it's anybody's game."

Jacobs, last year's champ with a 15-0 record, currently leads the Valley with a 4-1 record while PR is 5-0 in the Fox, Johnsburg 4-1 and Huntley 3-2.

Filling in nicely: Burlington Central coach Scot Sutherland was looking for replacements at second base and in center field this season and he's been pleased with the recent results. With center fielder Brooke Porto graduated and junior second baseman Jordan Maisto opting to compete on the Rockets' track team this spring, Sutherland needed to fill those two spots.

"(Freshman) Haley Albamonte has been doing a nice job in center and we're starting to get some more consistent play at second from a couple of kids (Katie Maleski and Katlyn O'Reilly)," said Sutherland, whose team has won seven in a row and notched a huge 4-3 Big Northern East win over Marengo Wednesday before having Thursday's rematch rained out, a game that will be made up May 21.

The Rockets' winning streak has come on the heels of an uncharacteristic 4-3 start that included losses to St. Charles East, West Aurora and Batavia.

"A couple of those games that could have gone our way we just weren't consistent getting a groundball where we could get a runner home or in getting a big hit when we needed it," Sutherland said.

Weird game: The 1-1 tie in 10 innings played between Hampshire and Elgin earlier this week is one that left Maroons' coach Peg Corcoran shaking her head.

"We left the bases loaded five times," said Corcoran, whose team left 22 runners on base in a game that also featured 30 strikeouts, 19 by Elgin freshman Hannah Perryman and 11 from Hampshire junior Ally Kent, as well as 21 walks. "We tried to squeeze twice; once we bunted it right in front of the plate and once we popped it up. It was an interesting game."

Despite a 5-14-1 record, Corcoran says her team has shown positive flashes.

"We can play so bad one day and come back and play really well the next," she said. "I guess the one thing I can say about these kids is they don't have much of a short-term memory. But there have been some glimmers of hop. We know what we're capable of doing."

Resked: The second Elgin-Larkin game of the season has been rescheduled to Monday, May 11 at Larkin.

Tough stretch: St. Edward snapped a tough losing streak Wednesday with a 9-5 win over Rosary. Prior to that the Green Wave had lost four straight, three of them Suburban Catholic Conference games, in the last inning.

"We reaped the benefits of some bottom of the seventh and eighth inning wins earlier and now we've been on the other end of a couple," said Wave coach Mike Rolando.

Those losses left the Wave with three SCC setbacks, leaving Rolando to believe his team might have to win out to claim a conference championship.

"The conference is still up in the air but I believe we'll have to play well and win out to be in contention," Rolando said. "At the same time, we're three outs from being 5-0 in the conference."

All-star game: The Sixth Annual Dave Fehlman Memorial Senior All-Star Game is set for Monday, June 15 at Jockey Field in East Dundee. The nine-inning game begins at 6 p.m. Coaches this year will be Scott Busam of Crystal Lake South for the North team and Jason Schaal of South Elgin for the South squad. The game is sponsored by the Fox Valley Renegades, the Northern Illinois Lightning and Rachel Clark of Feeny Chrysler and supported by the Daily Herald and Fox Valley Sports Academy.