Perryman, Elgin make quick work of St. Charles E.
Quick and efficient.
That was how Elgin and senior left-hander Hannah Perryman won Tuesday’s Upstate Eight River softball matchup with St. Charles East.
The Maroons scored 3 times in the first two innings and Perryman had it all working in a 15-strikeout 6-hitter as Elgin walked away a 3-1 winner in a 66-minute game at Maroon Field.
Perryman (9-6) struck out 8 of the Saints’ first 9 batters, giving her even more confidence as the game went on.
“It’s nice to go through the lineup once and know what you can throw and what you can’t,” she said.
Pitching with a lead doesn’t hurt either and the Maroons gave their senior standout just that in the first two innings. In fact, Perryman herself scored Elgin’s first run when she drew a two-out walk from St. Charles East sophomore Haley Beno in the bottom of the first and raced all the way home on Kelly Bremer’s double to the left-field corner.
Elgin (12-9, 5-5) then scored twice in the second. With one out, sophomore Bri Wright singled up the middle and went to second on Lisette Sanchez’s ground out. Senior Kendra Johnson then came up with a big single up the middle to score Wright with the only other run Elgin would need.
“That was a big RBI early in the game,” said Elgin coach Chad Dahlman. “Kendra has been struggling a little at the plate. It was good to see her come through with that big hit.”
After Anna Eckholm singled, Monica Stockman doubled to left to drive in Johnson with an insurance run.
The Saints (10-9, 4-6) scored an unearned run in the fourth when Casey Basic doubled, stole third and scored on a throwing error. But other than that, Perryman was in command. In the final three innings, the Saints only got one runner as far as second base and the Maroons’ defense was flawless.
“Get the early lead and there’s no pressure on you when there’s people on base,” said Perryman, who now has 227 strikeouts this season in 16 games (15 starts). “You can just throw your pitches.”
Dahlman wishes he could bottle Tuesday’s winning formula.
“We got ahead, the defense didn’t give up extra outs and Hannah threw strikes,” he said. “She was throwing that rise a little out of the zone today and they were still chasing it.”
Beno pitched a strong game for Saints, allowing 6 hits with 4 strikeouts and 2 walks. Alexis Perez had 2 hits for East.
“She did a good job,” said Saints coach Kelly Horan. “They really only had one solid hit and you should win when your pitcher only gives up one solid hit. Hats off to them. Hannah Perryman is a great pitcher and she beat us. We psyched ourselves out a little knowing we were facing her and that’s the biggest thing that we can control. We just didn’t play like we know how today.”