Garrison, Grens grab MSL gold at last

After playing in a Mid-Suburban League softball title game loss as a freshman and then missing last season with a knee injury, you know that senior Caitlin Garrison was hoping to go out with a big finish Thursday afternoon.

And sure enough, the second baseman played a key role in host Elk Grove claiming the 36th annual MSL title game.

Garrison's double to left-center in the second inning proved to be the game-winning RBI in the 3-0 shutout over six-time defending MSL champion Barrington.

Garrison also made a nifty diving grab of Nora Logue's liner in the seventh inning to help freshman Dani Goranson close out the game with a strikeout and give the Grenadiers their first league title since 2001 and fourth in school history.

Junior Stephanie Maday (15-2) went the first 5 innings, giving up only a leadoff single to Colleen Shandley. Maday faced just 17 batters and struck out four before Goranson retired six of the seven batters she faced in the fnal two innings.

The combined 2-hitter was indicative of the pitching Hall of Fame coach Ken Grams has seen all season from Maday, Goranson (10-0) and Krystina Leazer (4-0), who played third base Thursday.

The Grenadiers (29-2) gave up just 1 earned run in league play and a total of 6 runs overall.

"It's an amazing feeling," said Garrison, after winning her first MSL crown. "And it's a relief. I was so nervous. But once we got that first run, we knew we could do it and after that we were in charge."

After courtesy runner Kim Gulik scooted home from first base on Garrison's double, Garrison was able to take third on an error on the play.

Dani Goranson then beat out an infield single, allowing Garrison to score from third.

Barrington ace Kim Cygan (25-3) got out of the inning with a soft liner to second baseman Colleen Shandley and a strikeout.

It didn't take long for the Grens to add another run as sophomore right fielder Jessica Balzano led off the third with a towering home run over the center-field fence for the final run of the game.

"Oh, my God, that was huge," Garrison said of Balzano's clout. "I gave her the biggest hug ever because that extra run helped us so much."

"It's a little easier pitching when you have that run support," said Maday, who also pitched in the game last year as a sophmore. "We've been waiting for this for a long time. We were pumped up about it all day in school."

Grams said the luxury of his pitching staff makes a big difference.

"I'm not going to kid anyone, the offense wasn't that good but the pitching was great," he said. "It's so nice to have the luxury of being able to put in a second pitcher."

Besides Shandley's leadoff single, sophomore Kristin Kuhn (reached on an error in the fifth), freshman Kelsey Kazmier and senior Lindsey Dulla were the only other baserunners for Barrington (29-3).

Kazmier delivered a one-out single in the sixth and Dulla reached on an infield error with two outs in the same inning. But Dani Goranson, pitching to her sister Nikki, got out of the jam with a flyout to Balzano (2-for-3) and a strikeout.

"We just didn't bring our bats," Shandley said.

"We're going to have to work at fixing that. Sometimes a setback like this isn't always a bad thing. It can give you motivation. Obviously, we can't dwell on this loss."

"We did not get the type of offensive firepower we needed to have and that's a credit to Elk Grove," said coach Perry Peterson, who had guided Barrington to the last six MSL titles, a league record. "In these type of games it's the team who plays best who wins, and Elk Grove played the best."

Cygan allowed only 5 hits and struck out five.

"Kim pitched super," Grams said. "After our home run, we only had two baserunners (single to center by Balzano in the fifth and bloop single to right center by Nikki Goranson in the sixth). It's so important to jump ahead in a game like this because that puts a litle extra presure on the team that's behind."