Fremd's collective effort sinks Barrington

Fremd continued to show it's a team of the ages - all ages.

Freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors all played key roles in the Vikings' 4-2 victory over visiting Barrington on a day better suited for flying a kite than playing softball.

But the howling winds hardly fazed the freshman battery of Nikki Kehoe and Lexi D'Ambrosio, who teamed for a 4-hitter and 8 strikeouts as the Vikings raised their record to 15-1 and 4-0 in the Mid-Suburban West.

Kehoe faced only one over the minimum in the first four innings and she got a 1-0 lead in the bottom half of the third.

That's when Vikes junior Alyssa Garcia got things rolling with a one-out single to center.

The speedy center fielder advanced to second on a sacrifice fly by classmate Julia Wacker and then scored on freshman Jessica Mazur's double down the left field line.

A sophomore, shortstop Reagan Schneider, came into the picture in the fourth inning. She ripped a double to right center scoring Katie Niersbach, who drew a two-out walk.

The Vikings added another run in the fifth, thanks to junior third baseman Holly Straup's single to right that scored Garcia (2-for-3, 2 runs).

Then the senior got into the act.

Julie Josten laced a double to right center in the bottom of the sixth to drive home Addison Stremel for a 4-0 lead.

"Everyone contributed and stepped up for us," said Josten, who will continue her softball career at Illinois Wesleyan. "It was a good win for us. Barrington (13-4, 3-1) is always a good team so we know we have to be on top of our game when we play them."

The Vikings find themselves in the top half of the MSL West standings, ½ game behind Schaumburg (5-0) and tied with Conant (4-0).

Fremd hosts Schaumburg today at 4:30 p.m.

"They're another great team," Josten said. "So we've got to bring our best again."

Barrington started bringing its best offense in the final inning when it produced 3 of its 4 hits.

Shortstop Liz Sweeney led off with a single to center and catcher Rachel McDonald followed with her fourth homer of the season, a 2-run shot to left center to cut the deficit in half.

Kehoe beared down and got a strikeout and groundout to shortstop Schneider before Haley Luczak kept the Fillies' hopes alive with a double to right-center.

But Kehoe got the final batter on a grounder to second baseman Becca Uhrich.

"The freshmen did well," said Fremd coach Jim Weaver. "Nikki (Kehoe) threw well against a good Barrington lineup. Lexi (D'Ambrosio) caught a nice game and Jessica (Mazur) stayed back real nice on that change-up (for her RBI double). That was good and a really important part of the game.

"We had big hits by Reagan and (Schneider) Julie, (Josten) some great two out at-bats. It was a total team effort. The bench was really into it and having fun, too."

It was Barrington's first loss at Fremd since a 2-1 loss in 2006.

"Fremd was most deserving of the victory," said Barrington coach Perry Peterson, whose ace Keenan Dolezal (12-4) threw 7-hitter with 5 strikeouts. "They were sharp in all aspects of the game."