Burlington Central's Sutherland notches win No. 250

After Burlington Central's softball team downed Streamwood, 11-0, Wednesday on Rocket Hill Rockets' coach Scot Sutherland was pelted with water balloons.

He later learned that he was being "honored" for his 250th victory at Central. Sutherland, who was unaware of the milestone before the game, took the drenching in stride.

For those who knew in advance that Sutherland was nearing a milestone, the suspense didn't last too long. The Rockets broke the game open with 4 runs in the third and fourth innings of the 5-inning game.

Jet Klein allowed just 3 hits and struck out 8. Ashley Scheffler had 3 hits, Haley Albamonte drove in 3 runs, and Sarah Kisch had 2 hits and 2 RBI for Central.

Sutherland said that if the Rockets are going to help him win a lot more games this year, they will have to follow Wednesday's blueprint.

"We played a complete game today," said the 11th-year coach, who guided the program to a third-place finish in the Class 3A state tournament last year. "They understand that that's what it's going to take, and they know what they're capable of doing when we do those types of things."

Streamwood coach Nick Baird hopes his Sabres learned the same lesson.

"We really needed this, because we really didn't come to play," he said.

Run-scoring singles by Emily Bell and Kisch put the Rockets ahead in the bottom of the first. Scheffler's double made it 3-0 in the second.

The Rockets (2-3) then broke the game wide open with 4 in the third. Albamonte's double to right center brought in 2 runs as the Rockets took advantage of 2 walks and a Streamwood (4-1) in the inning.

Cassie Warner's 2-run single keyed another big outburst in the fourth, giving the Rockets a double-digit margin.

Streamwood's only threat came in the fourth when Helene Eckler and Delaney O'Malley hit back-to-back singles. But after a sacrifice, Klein got another out to get out of the inning.

Julie Ranahan's double in the fifth was the Sabres' only extra-base hit.