Chladek, Sandburg out-power Barrington

Kelly Katis' home run and double gave her a team-high 7 extra base hits for Barrington's state-ranked softball team on Wednesday.

But it was a home run by junior Paige Chladek of state-ranked Sandburg that proved to be the difference in the Eagles' exciting 8-6 nonconference win over the host Fillies at the Fields of Dreams.

With the score tied at 5-5, Chladek belted a 3-run blast that easily cleared the center field fence with no outs in the top of the seventh inning to give the Sandburg (7-4) an 8-4 lead.

The Fillies (8-3), who had tied the game at 5-5 thanks to three straight players (Jenna Fingerman, Rachel Krzysko, and Liz Sweeney) crossing the plate on wild pitches in the fifth inning, made things interesting in the bottom of the seventh.

Krzysko (3-for-4) and Liz Sweeney (2-for-4) led off with singles and Krzysko scored on a wild pitch.

But Sweeney never advanced past second base as sophomore relief pitcher Molly Kaspar retired the next three batters with a strikeout and two infield groundouts for her first varsity win.

Sophomore right fielder Krzysko (doubled and reached base four times) also threw a runner out at the plate to end the top of the sixth inning when catcher Rachel MacDonald made the tag.

"We are all feeling disappointed," said Katis, the Fillies' junior second baseman who was 2-for-4. "We feel we can do a lot better. This makes us more motivated to come back and have a good practice (today). Everyone is taking it hard but we'll just go home, sleep on it, and come back ready to go at practice."

With runners on first and second, Chladek was ready to bunt in her game-winning at-bat.

"I had her squaring up to bunt on the second pitch," said Sandburg 10-year coach Jim Fabianski. "So it was kind of ironic (she hits a home run). She sure showed me."

"It felt really good off the bat and I knew it was going out," Chladek said of her third homer of the spring.

Fabianski, whose team dropped a pair of games to Moline, one to Andrew and one to a team from Florida, was impressed by the Fillies.

"Oh my," Fabianski said. "This is the first time we played against a team that we were evenly matched against. If somebody would have told me we'd get 12 hits, I don't think I would have believed it."

"That's' the best pitcher (Keenan Dolezal, who had 11 strikeouts and is now 7-3) we've seen all season so I was happy with the way we hit."

The Fillies will try to snap a two-game losing streak on Friday when Lakes visits.

"We work with really good people every day," said Barrington coach Perry Peterson. "And I know they will learn from today's experience, move on, and get better."