McAndrews dominating for Wheaton Warrenville South

Virginia McAndrews had some big shoes to fill this spring, replacing Laura Tarnawa as Wheaton Warrenville South's ace pitcher.

She's been up to the challenge.

McAndrews, who pitched WW South's JV team to a DuPage Valley Conference title last year, is 8-6 with a 0.57 ERA with 162 strikeouts in 111 innings.

Even more impressive, McAndrews boasts a 0.11 ERA in conference games. She has thrown shutouts in four of her last five starts in the DVC and has the Tigers within 2 games of conference leader West Chicago. WW South has won six of its last eight in the DVC after an 0-2 start.

"She's been dominant in every game," WW South coach Denise McCance said. "Just a great presence on the mound."

It hasn't hurt having Meghan Murphy, McAndrews' catcher on JV, behind the plate this season.

WW South assistant Tom Wentland charts every batter and their tendencies from previous games. McAndrews, Murphy and Wentland review the game plan prior to every game. For the first time this year, Wentland calls every pitch.

McAndrews throws the usual assortment of pitches -- rise, drop, screwball -- but the changeup has been her "out pitch."

"Virginia has improved a lot, even from last year," McCance said. "She has a lot more movement on her ball."

Banner year in Bensenville: Critics might have called first-year Fenton coach Dave Mello crazy for boldly predicting in the preseason the Bison could go to state this spring. Especially after Fenton started the season 1-5.

But since then, the Bison rolled off 13 consecutive wins before a loss to Riverside-Brookfield last week.

That streak coincided with the return of seniors Sasha Molina and Stephanie Pingel, who missed the first seven games.

Molina came in two weeks late, then missed time with a stomach virus. In her first start she caught Amber Schwarzinger's no-hitter of Leyden on April 3. Molina now leads the team with a .382 average and 16 runs batted in.

"Ever since that Leyden game our confidence has been building and building," Mello said. "We go into every game thinking we're going to win."

Pingel, a three-sport varsity athlete since her freshman year, tore her meniscus a week before the season. She had surgery on Good Friday and returned April 21.

With 15 wins and a week left in the regular season, the Bison are poised to break the school record of 21 wins. Then comes the postseason, where Fenton is the No. 2 seed in the Class 3A Trinity sectional and hosts its own regional.

"It's a group that has really come together," Mello said. "Most of the core group are seniors. They would be the first ones to admit they've underachieved in the past. I thought we were a team that could do this."

Bruised, but not beaten: Glenbard South's medical staff and bench has had its hands full the last two weeks.

Three Raiders starters have missed time due to a variety of maladies.

Foremost among them was ace pitcher Jill Trzaska, who has been bothered by migraine headaches. Trzaska did return Tuesday and struck out nine in a win over Batavia. Battery mate Jess Fijolek is playing with bruised ribs she suffered on a slide, and leadoff hitter Lauren Podgorski dislocated her pinkie against Kaneland a week ago.

"Healthy, I don't know," said Raiders coach Julie Fonda, "but they're playing."

The injury bug bit during an already difficult stretch. Glenbard South lost to top-ranked Sandburg on April 30 and 2-0 to a ranked Plainfield Central team on May 3.

"In all honesty, we don't play for the nonconference games," Fonda said. "We played Plainfield Central well with three starters down and played Sandburg well."

Trzaska is probably the worst off at this point among the three starters. Fortunately, in her absence the Raiders could rely on Robin Borowski, a No. 1 pitcher on many teams.

Glenbard South is still undefeated in the Western Sun Conference and the top seed in the Class 3A Glenbard South sectional that starts May 20.

"It is one of our big goals, knock on wood," Fonda said of going unbeaten in conference. "We just have to battle through it. Only two weeks until the state tournament starts."