Schaumburg eagerly rolls to victory
Schaumburg’s Courtney Raschk said the Saxons softball team couldn’t wait to get on its home field and start the season Wednesday.
“We were very anxious to play,” said the senior third baseman.
No kidding.
All the Saxons did was belt 16 hits, 3 apiece from Raschk, junior Julia Bellinger and junior Hannah Kerr, and post a 16-0 triumph in 5 innings over visiting St. Viator in the nonconference game.
“Give all the credit to Schaumburg,” said Lions coach Dan Twarog, whose team has started the season 1-3 playing four Mid-Suburban League teams (Prospect, Palatine and Hoffman Estates). “Schaumburg did a nice job hitting. They were hitting it everywhere we weren’t, and that’s the name of the game.”
The game was broke open when the Saxons’ first 12 batters reached base in the bottom of the third inning and 11 of them scored.
Bellinger’s two-out RBI double to center made it 16-0 and was the Saxons’ ninth hit of the inning.
Schaumburg began the game with 5 runs in the bottom of the first, getting five consecutive hits, including a triple by Shannon Felde and doubles by senior Alyssa Lancaster and Raschk.
Felde’s triple to right-center was the first career at-bat for the freshman shortstop, who went 2-for-4 in her debut.
“She had a great game,” said Saxons coach Ellen Stoddard. “Overall this was a great team victory for us.”
Teaming up on the mound for the Saxons were seniors Rene Kakareka (first 3 innings) and Lancaster (final two).
The Lions’ only hit was a two-out single to left by freshman Krystal Harris that followed a walk to Gina Mastrodomenico.
But Kakareka (1-0) got out of the mini jam with a pop-up to second baseman Aubrey Lopshire.
Harris also pitched the final inning in relief of Sam Hogan, retiring the side in order, including a strikeout.
“Krystal did a real nice job,” Twarog said.
“We definitely need to focus most on our hitting,” said Lions shortstop Alex Flasch. “They hit the ball a lot where we weren’t and there’s not much you can do about that. We just need to learn to fight back when we get down.”
In addition to the 3-for-3 performances from Bellinger, Raschk and Kerr, other multiple hitters for Schaumburg were Felde (2-for-4) and Lancaster (2-for-4).
Kakareka, senior Courtney Plankar and Lopshire also hit safely for the Saxons.
“All of us were just being so positive in practice the last few weeks,” Raschk said. “We were just giving our full effort in this game and backing up each other. We’ve been working so hard we wanted to come out and show what we could do.”
Stoddard liked what her team did.
“It was pretty amazing,” she said. “This is a very good starting point. The girls must now focus on the job ahead. We’ve got to keep moving forward and always come out focused and confident.”