Softball: Elk Grove breaks out against Buffalo Grove
How's this for an encore?
One day after scoring 9 runs in the sixth inning against Rolling Meadows, Elk Grove's softball took things a bit further on Wednesday at Buffalo Grove.
The Grenadiers put up 16 runs in the third inning en route to a 21-0 four-inning triumph that raised their record to 17-2 and 6-1 in the Mid-Suburban East.
"We have an approach where we tell the girls to never relax," said Elk Grove hall of fame coach Ken Grams, who could not recall any of his previous 38 teams scoring that many runs in one inning.
"We want to pretend the score is always 0-0 and we want to jump out in front. My line to them is 'keep your foot on the pedal.' "
The Grens took those words to heart in the third inning, as 22 batters came to the plate.
Grams even used a pair of pinch hitters (Brooke Baldassarre and Paige Langston) who contributed 2 of the 11 hits in the inning.
Taylor Schulz (2-for-4) was the only Grenadier to bat three times in the inning, and the sophomore left fielder singled to right and left her first two times up in the inning.
AJ Trausch (2-for-2) belted her team-high 12th homer, a 2-run shot over the right-center field fence. Jaime Klicka also belted a 2-run homer in the inning.
Finally, junior catcher Katia Pendowski (3-for-5, 5 RBI) and sophomore shortstop Olivia Masnica (3-for-5, 4 RBI) each had run-scoring doubles and singles in the big inning.
"I can't remember scoring that many runs in one inning in all my years playing softball," Masnica said. "We've been hitting the ball pretty well, all through the lineup."
"We've been working pretty hard," added Pendowski who is also working hard in the classroom this week with important tests in physics, calculus and U.S. History and SAT studying. "I know my teammates always have my back. There's a few girls on our team who I train with in the winter so it's nice to see our hard work paying off."
Morgan Leach, winning pitcher Lauren Clausen, Grace Engwall and Alexa Fontanetta also had hits for the Grens.
Fontanetta was robbed of a second hit when her cousin Megan Fontanetta made a nifty stab of a sharp liner back to the pitchers mound in the first inning.
Clausen did not give up a hit until freshman Angelina Craig's single to center with two outs in the third inning.
Senior Bailey Williams had the other hit for BG (5-7, 2-4) with a one-out single to left in the bottom of the fourth.
Clausen threw a 2-hitter with 6 strikeouts.
"We weren't making the plays we needed to," said Bison coach Starr Dorsey. "And they were hitting the ball. You've got to give them credit. They got it done offensively for sure.
"We'll just turn the page, have short memory, and get ready for Hersey (Thursday)."