Softball: Bartlett's Ulaszek wins duel over Streamwood

Bartlett had a lot to overcome to get its seventh straight win Monday in Streamwood.

For one, the Hawks had to deal with the Sabres' Taylyr Crocilla, who silenced Bartlett's bats all afternoon.

They also suffered a bad break in the third inning when their shortstop and No. 3 hitter, IUPUI-bound senior Amanda Pagan, exited the game after injuring her left ankle sliding into second base.

Thanks to a clutch two-out hit from Danielle Kleeman and stellar pitching by Janelle Ulaszek, the Hawks still managed to leave Streamwood with a 1-0 win in eight innings.

"Any time you lose your senior Division I stud shortstop/pitcher ... but I give the girls credit," Bartlett coach Jim Wolfsmith said. "I told them our backs are against the wall now. We have to go to war with what we've got."

Bartlett (14-7, 8-3) has a big week coming up with key Upstate Eight Valley games the next two days against West Aurora and South Elgin, and Wolfsmith doesn't know if Pagan will be back. She couldn't put any weight on her ankle as she was helped off the field.

Pagan walked in both of her at-bats. After her second walk she continued on to second base while teammate Riley Scrivner stayed at third. At the last minute after holding Scivner at third, Crocilla threw to second to try to get Pagan.

Pagan slid in safely but the late slide caused her ankle to jam into the bag.

"It was pretty swollen," Wolfsmith said.

Streamwood (5-10, 3-4) only managed one hit against Ulaszek, a one-out single in the first inning by Tessa Freedman.

The Sabres did put runners into scoring position in both the sixth and seventh innings with a chance to score the winning run but both times Ulaszek pitched around errors.

"We do work a lot better when we come together as a team and shake off the errors if we have any," Ulaszek said. "That really helped us today. We didn't let our confidence get down. I was working it in and out and changing the speeds of my pitches to throw them off."

In the bottom of the eighth Ulaszek closed the game by striking out the side. She finished with 8 strikeouts and only 1 walk.

Crocilla matched Ulaszek with one scoreless inning after another. She pitched around 7 walks, striking out 10.

"She's a heck of a pitcher," Wolfsmith said. "She's legit. She was dealing today, really moving the ball. Had us fooled on her changeup a little."

A leadoff walk in the eighth finally came back to get Crocilla, plus a two-out error that would have ended the inning. Instead, Kleeman stepped to the plate and drove in the only run of the game with a single up the middle.

"I didn't really have any hits earlier in the game but I was just staying positive and trying to keep my head in it and hit in the right place," Kleeman said.

"I applaud Dani for a 2-out bingo," Wolfsmith said. "It wasn't the hardest hit we had all day but it was to the right spot at the right time."

Hannah Jenig made a couple good catches in right field for the Sabres who host St. Charles East on Tuesday.

"Taylyr hit her spots, she moved the ball around, she changed speeds, she pitched awesome," Sabres coach Will Shogren said. "We didn't score a run. We need to score to win. We didn't have timely hitting."