South Elgin makes quick work of Elgin
South Elgin coach Jason Schaal talked during a brief pregame meeting Friday about having quick bats.
The Storm had quick bats and a quick start against Elgin.
South Elgin scored five times in the first inning before the Maroons even got to the plate en route to a 12-1 five-inning Upstate Eight Conference victory in Elgin.
“We had a lot of energy and just hit the ball really hard,” said South Elgin sophomore Victoria Watt, who had 4 RBI. “We knew that we needed to come out strong we accomplished that.”
Katelyn Stonecipher doubled to lead off the game and scored on a Kara Rodriguez triple. Sam Bolin followed with a run-scoring groundout. Alyssa Buddle singled. Shannon Conway walked. Brittany Koss doubled to bring in Buddle. Watt followed with another double to drive in Conway and Koss for a 5-0 lead.
“We did a great job of coming out strong in the first inning and showed Elgin what we could do,” said Buddle, a freshman. “We’ve been working on starting off strong and putting runs on the board to put pressure on the other team.”
The Storm (7-3, 3-0) scored twice in the second on a Buddle double and Conway single to increase the lead to 7-0. The lead went to 10-0 in the fourth on an RBI single from Koss and a 2-run double from Watt.
Elgin scored in the bottom of the fourth on a Jaclyn Navarro sacrifice fly to make it 10-1. South Elgin scored twice in the fifth on RBI from Sam Bolin and Buddle for a 12-1 lead.
Stonecipher had 2 hits and scored 3 runs. Rodriguez, Conway, Koss and Watt also each had 2 hits.
“The bats have really been alive,” Schaal said of the Storm’s five-game win streak. “Everything is starting to come together. They are starting to believe in each other. They are starting to trust each other.”
Bolin (6-2) earned the victory, allowing 5 hits (all singles) and 1 run. She walked one and struck out four and has now allowed only 3 earned runs in her last three outings.
Elizabeth Gorski was the only Elgin player with 2 hits. Hannah Perryman suffered the loss for Elgin (6-4, 0-3), which lost its third straight. Perryman allowed 12 hits and 10 runs in four innings. The junior walked four and struck out seven.
“They just played a great game,” Maroons coach Chad Dahlman said of South Elgin. “They came out and hit the ball.”