Meadows, Barrington keep the bats warm

On a frigid afternoon more suited for football, the Barrington and Rolling Meadows softball teams tackled their opponents for losses on Thursday.

While Barrington cruised past visiting Woodstock North 16-0 in five innings, Rolling Meadows edged visiting Glenbard East 4-3.

Meadows senior Maryclare Loughery extended her hitting streak to 22 games and also drove home the winning run with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning as the Mustangs rallied from a 3-0 deficit to edge the Rams (2-4).

The veteran second baseman (2-for-4) ripped a line drive single over the shortstop's head to score freshman Sam Anderson with the winning run.

"Maryclare is off to a great start," said Mustangs coach Tony Wolanski, whose four-year varsity performer is batting over .600. "She continues to get better every season."

Loughery's 22-game hitting streak is tied for 10th in the IHSA softball record books. The record is 45 consecutive games.

Down 3-0 going into the bottom of the sixth, Meadows junior catcher Kelly Keyzer belted a 3-run homer over the right-center field fence to tie the game.

Keyzer's big blast on the first pitch she saw was the second homer of her career and it scored winning pitcher Josie Suchecki (1-2) and junior Emily Skorin.

The Mustangs (2-2) have scored 12 of their 19 runs in the sixth inning this season.

Barrington 16, Woodstock North 0: The Fillies (10-1) beat a Woodstock North team (3-7) whose coach was hardly a stranger to the Fields of dreams.

In her early days as a Crystal Lake Central softball player, Thunder coach Kristin Kulpinski also played for Jon Sanders's Barrington Typhoons summer team, which played home games at the Fields of Dreams.

Kulpinski, who played softball for Butler, is starting at ground level with the Thunder, a first-year varsity team with no seniors and three starting freshmen.

"We want to give our kids a challenging schedule," Kulpinski said about playing teams like state power Barrington. "That's the only way to get better."

Junior Liz Owen showed why she is one of the better power hitters in the Fillies lineup, slamming a 3-run homer over the left-center field fence in an 8-run third inning.

With runners on first and third, Owen faked a bunt for a strike on the first pitch.

Jordan Wekony (2-for-2, 2 RBI) stole second on the play.

Owen then took a full cut at the 0-1 delivery resulting in her second career homer.

"I knew the minute if went off the bat (it was gone)," Owen said. "It felt good and I knew it was going far."

The first seven batters in the inning scored for the Fillies.

Junior pitcher Kiley Dolezal (9-1) struck out six and walked one in the first four innings tossing to junior catcher Kristin Kuhn.

Freshman Meghan Sickal threw to freshman catcher Tess Bolger in the fifth inning, retiring three straight batters.

Junior Colleen Shandley (3-for-4, 3 runs, 2 RBI) and senior Nora Logue (2-for-3, 2 runs) also had multiple hits for the Fillies, who had 14 in the game.

Junior Dana Moran and Sickal each collected their first varsity hits with RBI singles.

"We scored in every inning," said Barrington coach Perry Peterson. "And that's encouraging to see."

York 7, Elk Grove 4: York (4-1) scored 5 unearned runs in its last two at bats to make up a 4-2 deficit against visiting Elk Grovce (5-2).

Jessica Balzano (2-for-3, triple), Dani Goranson (2-for-3, home run, 2 RBI), Megan Keegan (2-for-4, double), Amanda Gattone (2-for-3) and Devan Parkison (double) led the Grens' offense.

Goranson (3-1) struck out two in the last 2 innings while Stephanie Maday struck out four in the first 4 innings.