Fremd takes Barrington 1-0 for sectional championship

What Jenny Schneider thought was just a popup turned out to be the biggest hit of her softball career.

Schneider's basehit to the gap in left-center with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning brought home Kristine Werling from second base and gave top-seeded Fremd a dramatic 1-0 victory over No. 2 Barrington in the championship game of the Class 4A Barrington sectional Saturday at the Fields of Dreams.

It also gave Fremd its first appearance in a supersectional since coach Jim Weaver's first season in 2002.

The Vikings (31-4) will face Prairie Ridge (33-6) in the Barrington supersectional Monday at 7 p.m.

"The fact that we beat Barrington in this situation is an amazing feeling," said Schneider, a junior left fielder whose team had split 1-run regular-season games with the Fillies. "They are such a great team and we love playing them."

Weaver loved that Schneider was batting in that eighth-inning situation.

"We have a few kids you'd want up in that situation and Jenny is one of them," he said. "These kids believe in themselves and they should. They have worked harder than any team I've had (in eight seasons)."

Barrington standout Kim Cygan (29-4), who along with her Fremd counterpart Lena Brottman (19-3) gave up only 3 hits, retired the first two batters in the bottom of the eighth.

Leadoff batter and sophomore catcher Werling then drew a walk and stole second while Schneider was at the plate.

Schneider (2-for-4) followed with her game-winner.

"I was nervous the whole game," she said. "When I was coming to bat, I just told myself to breathe. When I hit the ball, it came off the bat funny and I thought it was a popup. I just knew if it somehow got down in the field, Kristine would score. When I was rounding first and saw it fall, I couldn't think of anything but to start crying."

"Oh my God, we were all screaming and jumping up and down," Brottman said. "We all worked so hard to do our jobs and we were just so excited."

The Vikings did not commit an error behind Brottman, who struck out eight without issuing a walk.

"The defense was the amazing part, and Lena pitched so well," Schneider said.

"I just went one pitch at a time," Brottman added. "Tess (Dinterman, the center fielder) made that amazing play off the wall (threw out a runner trying to stretch a single into a double). Kelly (Voigt, who had Fremd's only other hit) made a great play at third (caught a pop foul near the backstop behind home plate) and Kristine framed my pitches so well. Everything was lights-out all-around."

Weaver said Brottman mixed up her pitches perfectly.

"Lena was dealing," the coach said. "She pitched her heart out. And we didn't make any mistakes behind her. We knew she had to mix up her pitches. If you let Barrington look at the same one time after time, they'll beat you.

"I'm really proud of my kids. They'll enjoy this and then get back after it for Monday night."

Barrington's young team (33-4) will get back at it next year with all but three graduating seniors.

"Fremd was aggressive, they always are," said Barrington coach Perry Peterson, whose team's streak of five consecutive sectional crowns was snapped. "I thought our kids handled the pressure well and we had two double plays which were positives.

"We played a Fremd team that was deserving to win because they scored the run to win and we didn't."

Cygan (29-4) finished her career with 60 wins, fourth highest in school history.

"Kim did an amazing job game after game," Peterson said. "She had a great career. And we'll miss Lindsey Dulla (senior center fielder who had one of Barrington's hits along with Kiersten Tinkoff and Jordan Wekony) in so many ways. We'll miss all three of our seniors (Kelsey Kuhn is the other).

"The special thing about this team was their togetherness. We had 11 kids trying to get better on a daily basis. They won 33 and lost 4. They did a terrific job."

As did Fremd.

"I wish them the best of luck the rest of the state series," Peterson said. "We'll move on. But we'll always think of the 2009 season and all of the positive things that happened."