Barrington Fillies hit daily double in Mid-Suburban League
Simply said, Barrington's softball team rose to the biggest occasion of the Fillies' season - from 4:30 p.m. Friday to noon Saturday.
Play their two biggest Mid-Suburban League games so far, the Fillies handed powerful Elk Grove and the Daily Herald's No. 1 ranked Fremd Vikings their first league losses.
Less than 18 hours after being removed in the second inning against Fremd, Barrington senior ace Kim Cygan bounced back Saturday morning with a 6-hitter and 1-0 shutout over visiting Elk Grove at Lageschulte Field.
"I wanted to pitch well because I didn't on Friday," said Cygan, who is 22-2. "I wanted to turn around and do better."
That is exactly what she did.
The senior, last year's Daily Herald All-Area honorary captain in Cook County, got the only run she needed in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Barrington improved to 25-2 and 11-1, while Fremd stands 20-2 and 9-1 in the Mid-Suburban West.
Barrington's lefty slappers Colleen Shandley and Lindsey Dulla started the fourth inning by putting down infield singles. Cygan followed with line single to right that loaded the bases.
Elk Grove junior Stephanie Maday (12-2), who was perfect through 3 innings, was replaced by freshman Dani Goranson (8-0).
Cleanup hitter Kiersten Tinkoff came through with a single to right that scored Shandley with the only run.
"I just had to do it for the team," Tinkoff said. "I knew it was my time to get a hit. We just believed we could win both of these games (Fremd and Elk Grove). We had to believe in ourselves to do it."
Dani Goranson, throwing to her sister Nikki, gave up only a bunt single the rest of the way. She escaped a the bases-loaded jam by catching a popup and recording 2 strikeouts.
"I thought both of our girls pitched magnificently," said Elk Grove coach Ken Grams. "I couldn't ask for anything more of them. It was just that little infield hit perfectly placed in the 5-6 spot followed by that perfect bunt that set up that whole inning for them (Barrington). You try not to let both of those lefties do that to you at the same time, but it just happened there."
Cygan worked her way out of a few jams as the Grenadiers (22-2, 9-1) left eight runners on base.
Elk Grove leadoff batter Jessica Balzano went 3-for-4.
The sophomore right fielder singled to left with one out in the fifth, and Amanda Mertes followed with an infield hit.
But Cygan got a strikeout and a force play by second baseman Shandley to get out of the inning.
"Too many runners left on base," Grams said. "We had opportunities."
"They are a great team," said Nikki Goranson, who singled sharply to left in the first inning with two outs. "It's always fun playing them and it's always great softball."
Stephanie Dolce had a leadoff single for the Grenadiers in the second inning and advanced to second on Caitlin Garrison's sacrifice bunt.
However, Cygan got a strikeout and a grounder to third baseman Jordan Wekony to end that threat.
"You can't really rest with a 1-run run lead," said Cygan, who threw 3 strikeouts to sophomore catcher Kristin Kuhn. "But my defense really backed me up. And Kiersten had the big hit to get us the run. I'm so proud of her.
"We knew Fremd and Elk Grove were going to be strong competition these past two days and we had to play our best softball."
The Fillies' only hit other than the 4 in the fourth was a bunt single by Dulla (2-for-3) in the sixth.
Maday and Dani Goranson each struck out three.
"It was a terrific win against an unbelievably quality opponent," said Barrington coach Perry Peterson, whose team plays three road games (at Palatine, Conant and Schaumburg) this week.