Glenbard South's Chitkowski no-hits St. Francis

It was the best-kept secret in the Glenbard South dugout.

"I didn't even know I had one," Raiders freshman Danielle Chitkowski said.

Raiders coach Julie Fonda wasn't aware that Chitkowski had just fired a no-hitter until a look at the scorebook. Chitkowki's gem beat St. Francis 6-1, in doing so snapping the host Spartans' 15-game win streak.

Chitkowski (4-5) allowed an unearned run in the second on walks to Emily Karpinski and Laura Behnke, a fielder's choice and error. But she retired the last two hitters of the inning and gave up just a walk and hit batter the rest of the way while striking out four. Raiders center fielder Lauren Podgorski chased down hard-hit balls in the sixth and seventh.

"When she went to the mound today I said you have to keep the ball low and trust your defense. She did that," Fonda said. "Once she settled down and felt confident it was a different story. I don't want to say she dominated because she didn't. They put the ball in play and our defense made some great plays."

"I've been off my game a little bit," Chitkowski said, "but we had a week off. That gave me a chance to get back to where I need to be."

Glenbard South (9-10) jumped out early on St. Francis. Jenny Wittenberg singled off the pitcher's glove with two out in the first and Kristin Grossman followed with a screaming liner that just cleared the fence in left for a 2-0 lead. It was Grossman's second homer.

"Last year I had 4 homers," Grossman said, "and this year I've really been trying to hit that long ball. It hasn't been working for me. Either my head pulls out or I swing at bad pitches. Today it just clicked."

Singles by Jackie Wrona and Amanda Fazzari and a St. Francis error led to another run in the second. Glenbard South added 2 unearned runs in the fifth and one in the sixth, capitalizing on 5 Spartans miscues in the field. The Raiders struck out just 4 times against St. Francis pitcher Taylor Ronchetto (12-2).

"They're a good hitting team," St. Francis coach Ralph Remus said, "and Taylor usually has more strikeouts so our defense doesn't have to make plays. We had to make more plays today. We really weren't prepared for that. Taylor's not going to strike out 14 kids every day."

Grossman added an RBI single in the fifth for Glenbard South, which could hook up with St. Francis (17-3) again in a Class 3A sectional later this month.

"That's what we came in prepared to do, is measure up," Fonda said. "I think St. Francis was doing the same thing. We're probably the two best teams in the sectional, us and Riverside-Brookfield."