Elgin stuns Efflandt, Cary-Grove
Elgin answered its wake-up call and then some.
Now Cary-Grove will see if it can answer one as well.
Coming into the Prairie Ridge quad at Lippold Park in Crystal Lake Saturday, Elgin was reeling from losing four straight in a week the Maroons had finally cracked the Daily Herald Top 20. The worst blow of them all was a 12-1 pasting by South Elgin Friday.
By noon Saturday, all that had been long forgotten.
Elgin scored 2 runs in the top of the eighth inning and rode a stellar performance from freshman Jennah Perryman in the circle to beat No. 2 Cary-Grove and sophomore phenom Lindsay Efflandt 6-4 in a rematch of last year’s Class 4A Huntley sectional semifinal, which Cary-Grove won 6-0 on its way to an Elite Eight berth.
The Maroons then topped the day off with two more wins, beating Prairie Ridge 11-4 and Grant 3-2 in nine innings.
“It was definitely a good day for us, and we needed a good day,” said Elgin coach Chad Dahlman. “The way we had been playing, especially (Friday), it was a good day to bounce back.”
Playing on slow pitch fields with 300-foot fences, the home run was much easier to hit on Saturday and Cary-Grove jumped ahead of Elgin 2-0 in the first inning when Elini Polites singled and Alexis Haley split the outfield gap and ran around the bases.
But the Maroons came back to take a 3-2 lead in the third inning when Cary-Grove had trouble defending the short game. After Elizabeth Gorski drew a lead off walk, Kenyatta Scales and Anna Eckholm each beat out bunt singles. Efflandt got the next two hitters on strikes but Gorski came home on a wild pitch to make it 2-1. Kelly Bremer then beat out an infield single that scored Scales with the tying run and Jennah Perryman dropped a single into left field to score Eckholm and give the Maroons the lead.
Cary-Grove regained the advantage in the bottom of the fourth. Emma Gaulke off with a booming home run that would have gone over any 225-foot fence to make it a 3-3 game. Jamie Deering followed with a double and went to third when Perryman walked two batters to load the bases. Deering then scored on a fielder’s choice liner back to the circle from Sarah Leudo.
But Elgin would battle back again, this time using a split-the-gap homer from Hannah Perryman to tie it at 4-4 in the fifth, which is how it stayed until the top of the eighth.
With one out, Bremer dropped a single into right field and was sacrificed to second by Jennah Perryman. A fly ball off the bat of Jaclyn Navarro that would have been the third out was dropped by Cary-Grove, allowing Bremer to score and Navarro to go to second. After a Monica Stockman single, Navarro scored on Gorski’s single up the middle to give the Maroons a 6-4 lead.
Jennah Perryman, who allowed 8 hits and 4 walks but struck out 11, then set the Trojans down in order in the bottom of the inning to give the Maroons the upset.
“My sister (Hannah) let me know how important this game was for us,” Jennah Perryman said. “My changeup was working real good today. My sister and I have been working on it.
“We were on a losing streak but we came out today and played great defense and we hit really good today.”
A fact not lost on Dahlman after his team knocked out 8 hits off Efflandt, who struck out nine and walked two.
“What a difference a day makes,” Dahlman said. “After (Friday) I just told the girls to go out there and have fun today, to forget the record and how we’ve been playing. Our focus was just to have fun today.
“Jennah went out and threw a heck of a game. She was working it in and out and hitting her spots and our hitting came back today against one of the best pitchers in the state.”
Cary-Grove coach Tammy Olson hopes her team realizes now it can’t take anything for granted.
“It could be the best thing to happen to us,” Olson said. “Now we have to think instead of just cruise. Errors and lack of execution killed us but give (Jennah Perryman) credit. She did a wonderful job.
“(Elgin) had its wake-up call (Friday) and we got ours today.”
Elgin 11, Prairie Ridge 4: Jen Fulton pitched the final four innings to earn her first win of the season for the Maroons. Hannah Perryman started and allowed 2 hits with 8 strikeouts in the first three innings. She also went 3-for-3 with a home run and 3 RBI, while Navarro was 2-for-4 with a homer and 3 RBI and Fulton 2-for-4 with a homer. Bremer also had 2 hits, including a triple, and an RBI.
Elgin 3, Grant 2: The Maroons (9-4) scored the winning run on an error in the bottom of the ninth to finish 3-0 for the day. Hannah Perryman (4-2) went all nine innings for the win. Eckholm was 3-for-4, Bremer 2-for-4 with an RBI and Navarro 2-for-4 with an RBI for Elgin.
Cary-Grove 15, Grant 0: The Trojans bounced back from the loss to Elgin to beat Grant in five innings. Gaulke (2-0) pitched a 2-hitter with 4 strikeouts and 1 walk, while she also went 3-for-4 with a triple, home run and 4 RBI. Sara Markelonis also had a homer for C-G, Taylor Dunne was 3-for-4 with a triple and Leudo was 2-for-4.
Cary-Grove 5, Prairie Ridge 2: Efflandt (5-1) allowed just 4 hits and had 9 strikeouts with no walks as the Trojans (7-1) finished 2-1 for the day. Gaulke (2-for-3, HR, 2 RBI), Dunne (RBI), Markelonis (2-for-3) led the Cary-Grove offense.