Big swings lift Schaumburg

In two swings of the bat, Schaumburg’s softball team produced 5 runs in the first two innings Monday at Hersey.

Senior Jenna Lane belted a 3-run homer over the right-field fence in the first inning and junior Alyssa Lancaster drove a 2-run double down the left-field line in the second.

Those big hits, plus 2 more runs, gave Saxons pitcher Renee Kakareka a 7-0 cushion after two innings of the Mid-Suburban League crossover.

The junior right-hander made sure they would be enough in a 7-3 victory. She finished the game with 7 strikeouts to improve to 5-1 this season.

“Getting those runs right away helps with the confidence.” Kakareka said. “And I know I have my defense behind me. This was definitely a team win. Everyone contributed.”

The contributions started right off the bat when senior Alexis Carrevetta started the game with an infield hit.

Rebecca Thompson followed with a single to center and Brianne Lingl was hit by a pitch to load the bases.

Lancaster then drove a deep fly to left field for an RBI that scored Carrevetta.

With runners on first and second, senior Jessica Cook hit behind the runners (groundout to second), advancing them to second and third base.

Lane then belted her big shot over the right field fence for the 4-0 lead.

After Schaumburg (9-5, 3-3) went ahead 7-0 in the top of the second, Hersey starting pitcher Sarah Platt got the Huskies on the board in the bottom half of the inning. The sophomore homered over the left field fence.

Kakareka got the next two batters before Mallory Eichhorn doubled to left-center and came home on Stacey Schmiederer’s single to right that made it 7-2.

But Kakareka would limit the Huskies (4-13, 1-6) to just 1 more run, a two-out RBI single by Abbey Petersen in the bottom of the fourth which brought home Eichhorn (2-for-3).

Hersey loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh with two outs, but Kakareka got the final out on a grounder back to the mound.

“Renee has been doing well,” said Saxons first-year coach Ellen Stoddard, who like Hersey coach Molly Freeman, is a former Fremd softball standout. “She has really been working on getting ahead of batters. That has been her main focus and she did it well today.”

Like Eichhorn, Hersey leadoff batter Alex Tinaglia also had 2 hits and was robbed of a third one when Schaumburg second baseman Aubrey Lopshire made a nifty backhand stab on a hard grounder and threw to perfect strike to first for the out.

Junior Angela Lazzeretti threw the final three innings for Hersey, allowing no hits and facing only 10 batters.

“It always seems to be the first and second innings that hurt us,” Freeman said. “I’m proud of the girls’ fight. They keep trying to come back. We’d get runners on base but we need more timely hits.”