Brottman, Hubbard power big Fremd win over Barrington

Just three days ago, Lena Brottman became the winningest pitcher in Fremd softball history with a win over Palatine.

The senior ace, headed to Emory College in Atlanta, Ga., showed why she has earned that milestone with another gem Wednesday at the Field of Dreams in Barrington.

Brottman fired a 4-hitter with 8 strikeouts to shut out the defending MSL West champion Fillies 7-0.

Brottman's 69th career win gave the Vikings (18-1, 8-0) a three-game lead in the Mid-Suburban West over Barrington (17-4, 5-3) and Schaumburg (12-6, 5-3) with eight to play.

The last team to win the MSL West with three or more losses was Fremd in 2000.

While Brottman flexed her muscles on the mound, Megan Hubbard was powerful in the batter's box.

The Fremd sophomore second baseman belted 2 solo homers over the left field fence - the first for the game-winning RBI in the second inning - and went 3-for-4 to lead the Vikings' 13-hit attack.

"She (Hubbard) was on fire," said Brottman, who is also Fremd's all-time leader with more than 750. "She has been there for us all season with her bat."

Hubbard has five of Fremd's 18 homers in 19 games this spring.

"It feels real good," said Hubbard, also a member of the Vikings girls basketball team which played in the MSL title game this February. "The pitches were right down the middle and I just drove them."

The Vikes made their big drive in fourth inning.

They scored 4 runs with an RBI infield hit by Kristine Werling (scoring Alexi Cinquegrani), a bases-loaded walk to Ali Gaeding (scored Tess Dinterman) and a 2-run, two-out single by Lauren Zaworski (2-for-3) to center field which brought home Werling and Caitlin Patenaude.

The speedy Werling, who caught Brottman's shutout, went 4-for-5 in her usual leadoff position.

Patenaude's two-out RBI single down the left-field line scored Hubbard to make it 6-0 in the fifth inning before Hubbard led off the seventh with her second solo blast to make it 7-0.

"We had real nice swings the whole game," said Fremd coach Jim Weaver, who also got a stand-up double to the right field fence by Kelly Voigt to lead off the big fourth inning. "We had nice liners to go with Megan's homers. Our batters were disciplined.

"And I thought our defense (error-free) was fantastic. It's very nice to see all the kids' hard work on defense come to fruition."

The Fillies had multiple runners on base only once against Brottman.

In the second inning, junior Kiersten Tinkoff led off with a double down the right-field line and Loren Krzysko added a one-out single to left for runners on first and third.

But Brottman went on to strike out the side.

"Lena pitched great," Weaver said. "We had a talk with her about being focused and how she needed to step up her game and she really did."

Colleen Shandley and Liz Owen had the other hits for Barrington.

"I was impressed by the whole Fremd team," said Barrington coach Perry Peterson. "They were terrific. There was a significant disparity between our two teams today. Our job now is to work harder and get back to the point where we can compete with them in a couple of weeks."

Prospect 9, Wheeling 7: Host Wheeling led 7-0 after six innings but Prospect struck for 9 runs in the top of the seventh on 5 hits, 3 errors, 1 walk and a hit batsman.

In the Knights' big rally, Cassie Poulos, Sam Mangrum and Nicole Naranjo each had RBI singles.

Junior Nikki Surico went 2-for-3 with a double, walk and 2 runs for Prospect (7-9, 6-2) while teammate Allison Malewig also doubled.

Scout Scanlon (3-for-5, 1 run) and Amanda Zammatta (2-for-4, 1 run) led the offense for Wheeling (2-12, 1-7).

Becky Menelle and Sami Spinabella each doubled for the Wildcats.

Knights junior Mangrum went the first five innings while Hanna Lythberg (3-5) picked up the win by throwing the final two innings.

Wheeling senior pitcher Tori Menelle had a 3-hit shutout going into the seventh.

Elk Grove 8, Rolling Meadows 1: Jessica Balzano went 2-for-4 with 2 doubles and has hit safely in every game this season for the visiting Grenadiers (18-2, 8-0), who have a two-game lead over Prospect (6-2) in the MSL East.

Megan Keegan (2-for-4) also had a pair of doubles for Elk Grove while Devan Parkison (2-for-3) had one.

Sophomore Dani Goranson (12-1) struck out eight in the first four innings while Stephanie Maday recorded 3 strikeouts in the final three.

Emily Skorin went 2-for-3 for Meadows (10-9, 1-7).

Hersey 2, Buffalo Grove 1: Hersey's Aubrey Fulton (4-hitter, 5 strikeouts) retired the last 6 batters to seal the win for visiting Hersey (6-16, 2-6)

Andrea DiPrima, who had 2 doubles, recorded 3 strikeouts for Buffalo Grove (11-11, 2-6). Erin Barton also doubled for BG.

DiPrima's double to center scored Barton to give BG a 1-0 lead in the third.

Hersey scored after one out in the sixth. Val Burke singled to center and Haley Henricksen walked. Alyssa Kieffer then singled to center to load the bases.

Taylor Reeves drew a walk to bring home Burke. Sarah Jurczak then singled to left to score Kieffer for the game-winning run.

Schaumburg 23, Hoffman Estates 0 (5 inn.): Sophomore Alyssa Lancaster (11-6) earned the win for Schaumburg (12-6, 5-3) and also went 3-for-5 at the plate with a double.

Briana Lingl went 4-for-4 with a triple and 2 doubles for the host Saxons while teammates Courtney Raschk had a homer and Nicole Chase 2 doubles.

Conant 11, Palatine 4: Sophomore catcher Miranda Cavin went 3-for-5 with a double, triple and 5 RBI while teammate Hilary O'Donnell was 3-for-4 for the visiting Cougars (16-5, 4-4).

Briana Cavin (9-5) struck out five for Conant.

Katie Mnichowicz (3-for-5), Alyx Ballenger (2-for-3) and Lauren Logan (2-for-4) led the offense for Palatine (12-10, 4-4).

St. Viator 6, Highland Park 2: Abby Dickey, Bridget Urbanus and Amanda Presslak each had 2 hits while Alex Flasch had 2 RBI and Tayler Lenart 1 for the host Lions (14-5) in the nonconference game.

Junior Julie Sweeney (10-2) threw a 6-hitter for Viator, striking out seven and collecting a big 2-run single to left center in the fourth inning to score Dickey and Flasch.

With a 6-2 lead, Sweeney retired the final nine batters she faced.

Christian Liberty vs. Rockford Christian (DH): The Chargers lost the opener 12-10 and the second game ended in a 12-12 tie.

Megan Kryzanovic was 2-for-3 with a homer in Game 1 for CLA.

Offensive leaders for the Chargers in Game 2 were Rachel Sotomeyer (3-for-4, 2 doubles), Cammie Kott (3-for-4, double), Megan Kryzanovic (2-for-4, 2 doubles) and Brittany Negrone (3-for-4, home run).

Downers Grove South 5, Leyden 3: The Downers Grove South left fielder made a terrific catch to rob Amanda Moran of a 3-run homer that would have given Leyden (15-4, 3-1 in the the Suburban Silver) the lead in the top of the seventh.

"It was one of the best defensive plays I've seen all season," said Leyden coach Kurt Schuett.

Kim Giannini had 3 RBI for Eagles and Dana Thomas scored 2 runs.