Anderson’s blast boosts Brunlieb, Meadows

Sam Anderson and Sara Brunlieb have lived just three houses from each other since they were born six months apart 16 years ago.

They have played on the same travel and Rolling Meadows High School varsity softball teams since they were eight years old.

With Brunlieb always the pitcher and Anderson the shortstop, they’ve only been apart by about 15 feet on the diamond.

Fittingly, the juniors helped the Mustangs win a close game Thursday.

Anderson belted a 3-run homer in the third inning — and that was all Brunlieb needed as she scattered 6 hits and struck out eight in Meadows’ first win of the season, a 3-1 nonconference decision over visiting Libertyville.

Anderson’s two-out blast — her second in as many days over the center-field fence — came with two outs.

It scored senior Abbey Hill (leadoff single) and yes, Brunlieb, who had doubled to right with one out.

“I was just trying to make contact because we had runners on second and third,” said Anderson, who was 2-for-3 with the 3 RBI. “Everyone had been getting hits for us, but we weren’t stringing them together.”

Libertyville (1-1) got the first hit of the game when leadoff batter Taylor Oberman singled to center in the top of the first.

The speedy sophomore stole second and came home when Haley Hoeksel reached on an error.

Brunlieb ended up striking out the side in the first.

“My screwball and rise ball were working well,” Brunlieb said.

Anderson’s blast made things a little less nerve-racking for Brunlieb.

“It’s always better to have a cushion,” Brunlieb said. “We knew we had to bounce back from Wednesday’s loss (14-1 to Waubonsie Valley). In our minds, we wanted to move on from that game, and we did. We showed we have the power to do that.”

Anderson has literally shown her power.

She had 2 homers as a sophomore and one as a freshman.

Now she has 2 blasts over the fence in just two games as a junior.

“Sam’s home run was big,” said Rolling Meadows coach Tony Wolanski. “She really had a good off-season of physical training and I think being a year older she is a little stronger.”

Libertyville was strong to the end and had runners on first and third on double by pitcher Emilie Teitz and a walk to Oberman with two outs in the seventh.

But Brunlieb (1-1) got the final batter on a popup back to the mound to end the game.

“I knew the runner on third didn’t matter,” Brunlieb said. “I was just concentrating on the batter.”

“I thought Sara bounced back well after a tough outing (Wednesday) and she showed her mental toughness,” Wolanski said. “This is where she to be all for us all season.

“Her location was there this game. Her intensity level was much better and she kept the ball down. She really controlled the game.”

Oberman (2-for-2) was the only Wildcats batter with multiple hits, and she reached base in all 4 at-bats.

“Taylor does a super job in that spot for us,” said first-year Libertyville coach Elissa Wisniewski, a former Stevenson ace pitcher who won 99 games.

“She makes hard contact all the time, she is super fast and she has a good eye in the batting zone.”

The Wildcats’ Nicole Kruckman, Margaret Haws and Izzy Alsena also had hits.

“You never know what pitch will change a game,” said Wisniewski about the Anderson’s game-winning blast. “So you have to be ready on every pitch.

“We did some really nice things. We made plays (one double play). We made good relay throws. We didn’t always execute when we needed to but we put ourselves in a position to win at the end of the game.”

The Wildcats will play their homer opener on a new field in front of the school Tuesday against Zion-Benton.

“We’re starting to execute some of the things we’ve been doing in practice,” Wisniewski said.

“Now it’s just a matter of being consistent and staying aggressive the whole game. We have to be on the ball the whole games.”

Also getting hits for Meadows were junior catcher Sarah Caprio (2-for-3), senior Josie Suchecki and sophomore Lane Winkler.

“I thought we showed a lot of character coming back from Wednesday’s game,” said Wolanski, whose team (1-1) will play in a Rockford tournament Saturday. “We were very resilient with four starters out and six players total (because of spring break and injury).”

The injured player is Grace Skorin, who underwent an MRI on Thursday for her knee. Skorin was injured while sliding into home Wednesday.

Wolanski said the sophomore third baseman is expected to be sidelined for 6-8 weeks.