Palatine's comeback upends Cary-Grove

With four innings in the book, Cary-Grove seemed to be in good shape for a victory over Palatine.

The Trojans scored single runs in the first and third on an RBI single by Sarah Leudo and an RBI double from Abbe Wienckowski. Through four innings, Cary-Grove hurler Beth Maloney had blanked Palatine on 2 singles.

Unfortunately for Cary-Grove, the roof caved in on the Trojans during the final three innings.

Palatine scored 3 times in the fifth and seventh innings in rolling to a 6-3 nonconference girls softball win over Cary-Grove at Cary on a cold, windy Thursday afternoon.

"I was disappointed with the outcome, but we did some good things," said Cary-Grove coach Tammy Olson. "Beth Maloney pitched well for a first varsity game and then we hurt ourselves defensively. Because of the cold, this was a good character game for us."

After giving up 2 runs on 5 hits during the first two innings, Palatine junior Nicole Boisvert settled down and gave up 1 unearned run on 1 hit during the final five innings. For the game, Boisvert struck out three without allowing a walk in 7 innings in the circle.

"Nicole did a good job of keeping their hitters off balance," said Palatine coach Jeff Manz. "She did a great job of mixing her pitches and hitting her spots."

In the fifth, Katie Scovic led off for Palatine (1-3) with a single. Heather Zimmerman followed with a double to put runners on second and third. The next hitter, Kelli Burke, reached on an error which scored Scovic to Cut Cary-Grove's lead to 2-1. Ollson replaced Maloney with Lindsay Efflandt and Palatine greeted the Cary-Grove freshman with RBI singles from Katie Mnichowicz and Alyx Ballenger.

Ballenger added a 2-run single and Mnichowicz stroked a run-scoring single as the Pirates added 3 runs in the seventh.

Ballenger paced Palatine with 3 hits and 3 RBI.

"We were a little shaky at the beginning of the game and made some mental mistakes," said Manz. "We settled down and scratched and clawed and did a good job of playing base-to-base softball. It feels great to get that first win of the year in tough conditions."

Efflandt gave up 3 runs on 5 hits in 3 innings of work. She struck out two without allowing a walk.