Cary-Grove's Efflandt perfect in regional win
Freshman pitcher Lindsay Efflandt was a major contributor as Cary-Grove posted 28 regular season wins and claimed top honors in the Fox Valley Conference Valley Division.
Efflandt raised her performance in the pitchers circle to a new level in Tuesday's Class 4A Cary-Grove softball regional semifinal game against Crystal Lake South.
Retiring all 15 batters she faced with 8 strikeouts, Efflandt twirled a 5-inning perfect game as the top-seeded Trojans whitewashed the fourth-seeded Gators 10-0.
"I was really excited to pitch," said Efflandt. "I was really pumped up and all my pitches were working well. It is an awesome feeling to pitch a perfect game in the regional."
Cary-Grove coach Tammy Olson praised her talented freshman.
"Lindsay has so much poise and takes it game to game," said the Cary-Grove coach. "She really had good stuff today. We set the tone early with some runs. That always helps a pitcher."
The Trojans (29-6) play the winner of today's Grant-McHenry game for the regional crown Saturday at 4:30 p.m.
The Trojans scored all the runs they needed in the first inning on a long 3-run home run by Emma Gaulke.
"I saw that it was a change-up and timed it perfectly," said Gaulke. "I felt there was a good chance it was a homer when the ball left the bat. We came out very focused and ready to go."
The Trojans didn't stop hitting, scoring an unearned run in the third and five in the fourth. The key hits were an RBI double by Collete Roth along with a 2-run triple from Abbe Wienckowski. The Trojans, who stroked 10 hits, won the game in the fifth on an RBI single by Sarah Leudo.
Leudo led the Trojans' offensive attack with 2 hits and 2 RBI.
"This team has done a great job all season of focusing on every game," said Olson. "We set the tone early on Emma's homer and we played with focus the entire game. What can you say about Lindsay? She stepped up and pitched great. This is one step toward our goals."
South, which was plagued by 5 errors, finished with a 15-16 mark.
"Cary-Grove is a very good team and their freshman pitcher pitched a great game," said Crystal Lake South coach Scott Busam. "We knew we had to play well defensively and we didn't. We had too many errors and Cary-Grove took advantage of all our mistakes."
Huntley 31, Rockford Jefferson 1: Huntley (22-12) scored 23 runs in the first two innings and cruised to a win in the semifinals of the Class 4A Huntley regional. The Red Raiders will play the winner of today's Jacobs vs. Dundee-Crown game in Saturday's championship contest.
Taylor Larson allowed just 1 hit in 3 innings of work Tuesday to run her record to 19-9 for the season. Hailey Hanson pitched the final two innings and didn't allow a hit.
Karlie Swanson (3-for-4, 3 RBI), Tara Lycos (3-for-3, 3 RBI), Kelly Powers (2-for-2, 2B, 2 RBI), Kelsey Hagan (2-for-5, HR, 2 RBI) and Amanda Wisniewski (2B, RBI) led the Red Raiders' 17-hit attack.