Softball: Schaumburg shuts out Wheeling, stays in MSL East race

Survive and advance. That's what the mantra is these days for Ellen Abreu and her Schaumburg softball squad as it sought to keep their Mid-Suburban East title hopes alive with a late afternoon trek to Wheeling Friday.

A trek that was made more challenging by a late bus that pushed the start time by over half an hour.

"Late buses are never great, I'll be honest," Abreu said.

Thanks to a pair of scoring binges in tandem with another solid outing in the circle, Schaumburg kept itself afloat in the East chase with a 12-0 victory in 5 innings that moved its record to 13-3 overall and 6-2 in the East.

Schaumburg now trails East front-runner Palatine with two games remaining including a home date with the Pirates on Tuesday.

"The girls got here (and) got warmed up," Abreu said. "It took a little bit to get adjusted, but you got to come in ready to play every day, you got to have a good approach at the plate, you got to play solid defense and pitch well. The approach stays the same."

The visitors used a six-run third and a four-run fourth to settle matters. Starting hurler Alana Nieto got things going with a double that began a string of five consecutive hits that combined with 3 errors led to the Saxons’ first run binge.

After Nieto's second double in the fourth, third sacker Evelyn Blahnik added a two-run home run to her RBI double the previous inning as the key to the four-run fourth.

Nieto (4-4 at the plate) added a solo shot in the fifth followed by another RBI single by Blahvik to close out the scoring.

Meanwhile Nieto's complete game 3-hitter with 8 strikeouts kept the Wildcats (7-9, 2-6) at bay as they suffered their sixth straight defeat.

Nieto talked about how her teammates perceive her demeanor in the circle.

"If I'm up, they're going to be up,“ Nieto said. ”If I'm down they're going to be down. So, I really think about myself. I think about how my teammates react."