Bartlett has its way with Larkin

Ahead of Saturday’s tough matchup against Schaumburg, the Bartlett softball team could use a game like Friday’s against Larkin.

The Hawks pounded out 21 hits and freshman call-up Alyssa Nowak allowed just 1 hit as Bartlett defeated the Royals, 18-0, in five innings in an Upstate Eight Conference game in Elgin.

“It’s the end of the week so it’s nice to relax as a team,” said Bartlett junior Dana Paul, who had a 2-run home run in a 6-run first inning. “It’s nice to have a score like this. But at the same time we want to respect the other team.”

The Hawks (5-1, 3-0) stopped taking extra bases and pulled several starters following the third inning. Twelve different players had at least 1 hit and six players had multiple hits.

Kathryn Fornoff was 4-for-5 and drove in 4 runs. Kayla Haberstich went 3-for-4 with 6 RBI, including a long grand slam in a 7-run fourth inning. Paul, Alex Morales, Rheya Upadhyaya and Amy Johnson each had 2 hits.

“We have a few of these kind of games early and they’re nice to a point, where you get kids in the game,” Hawks coach Jim Wolfsmith said. “I call them a lunch pail game. You grab your lunch pail, you go to work, you get it done and you go home.”

Nowak retired the first 11 batters she faced before Alex Buhrow reached base on a swinging bunt single that didn’t even get halfway down the first-base line. Nowak did not walk a batter and struck out five in her varsity debut. She also was 1-for-2 with two walks at the plate.

“She pitched really, really well. I was proud of her,” said Paul, who caught Nowak.

Sarah Hansen (0-5) took the loss for Larkin (0-6, 0-3). The sophomore faced six batters and did not retire a batter before leaving after Paul’s home run.

“We had one hit all day and that was a full-swing bunt. That’s disappointing,” Royals coach Anne Vogt said. “That’s really the only thing that’s disappointing. We’re better than what we showed.”