Elk Grove bats sizzle against Barrington

Elk Grove senior Jessica Balzano knows a thing or two about hitting.

After all, she owns the longest hitting streak in Mid-Suburban League history at 43 games set earlier this season.

“I wasn’t really all that upset when it ended,” said the fine-fielding second baseman who will play for Loyola University. “It’s over. Now, I just go up there and hit the ball like I know I can.”

On Thursday at Barrington’s Fields of Dreams, Balzano and her teammates showed again that they know how to hit the ball.

Elk Grove (13-1, 6-0) pounded out 13 hits in the first four innings and defeated Barrington 13-0 in five innings.

“We were all just focused,” said Balzano, who started the game with a long double to right field and ended up 2-for-3 with an RBI single and a walk. “When one person hits, everyone hits.”

How true that was as all nine batter in Hall of Fame coach Ken Gram’s starting lineup had at least 1 hit.

Junior Becca Walz was 3-for-3, while senior Kristen Cetkovic went 2-for-3 with a one-out, 2-run homer to center in the second inning off Barrington’s third pitcher in the contest.

On the mound, junior ace Dani Goranson was nearly perfect, allowing only two base runners.

Kristin Kuhn drew a one-out walk in the third inning and Loren Krzysko reached on an infield hit with one out in the fourth. Grens junior shortstop Krista Soesbe made a terrific backhand stop on Krzysko’s hard-hit grounder.

“When you consider the opponent (15-5, 4-2) and how we started out each inning at the plate, these are the results you would hope for,” Grams said.

“Defensively, we made some nice plays. I thought we ran the bases well, and like I told the girls, I liked that we had a lot of two-strike hits.”

The hard-throwing right-handed Goranson (12-1) struck out one and has allowed only 3 earned runs all season.

“We were really pumped up in the bus coming here,” said the Michigan State recruit. “We talked about last year’s game (a tense 3-2 win at Elk Grove) and we talked about being pumped up like we were for state last year (the Grens were third in Class 4A).”

Barrington coach Perry Peterson takes his team (15-5, 4-2) to the downstate Washington tourney today and Saturday for three games against state powerhouses Trinity, Stanford Olympia and Metamora.

“We’ll find out what we’re made of,” said Peterson, who used Kiley Dolezal (11-3), Emma Woods (1-1) and Loren Krzysko (3-1) on the mound Thursday. “My compliments to Elk Grove. They were clearly better than us and most deserving of this win. That’s all that needs to be said.”

Peterson put seven new players on the field after Elk Grove scored its final 3 runs with no outs in the top of the fourth inning.

Junior left fielder Courtney Blum made a terrific shoestring grab to rob Grens catcher Devan Parkison of her second hit.

Parkison, Goranson (3 RBI), Megan Keegan (RBI), Soesbe (triple), Carly Danek and Tori Liewergen each had 1 hit for the Grens, who are ranked No. 1 in the Daily Herald poll.

Today they host No. 3 Downers Grove North at 4:30 p.m.

“This was one of our best games of the season,” said Balzano, whose team is playing 17 games in a stretch of 20 days. “We were all high with energy and the offense was incredible.”

“It’s a big game (today) against a really good team,” Goranson added. “Hopefully, we can hit like we did (Thursday).”

Hersey 14, Hoffman Estates 1 (5 innings): Lindsey Petersen (3-for-3), Alex Tinaglia (2-for-3, 2 doubles, walk), Haley Henriksen (2-for-3), Melissa Cecala (2-for-4) and Sarah Platt led a 15-hit attack for Hersey (4-11, 1-5).

The game was switched to Hersey’s diamond, and Hoffman Estates (3-10, 1-4) remained the home team.

Hersey junior Morgan Palmer went all 5 innings, notching 4 strikeouts.

Junior Linden Fick was 2-for-3 for the Hawks.