Efflandt, Cary-Grove blank Huntley

Lindsay Efflandt sparkled in the pitchers circle while Taylor Dunne provided enough offense.

In a lightning quick 59 minutes, Efflandt and Dunne keyed Cary-Grove to a 1-0 Fox Valley Conference Valley Division win over Huntley in Cary Monday afternoon.

Cary-Grove, 15-5 overall, remains perfect in conference play with a 6-0 mark. Huntley, 12 -6 overall, is 4-2 in league play. Huntley's two conference losses have come to Cary-Grove.

"All the conference wins are huge," said Cary-Grove coach Tammy Olson. "Lindsay was a little antsy before the game, but she showed a lot of poise today against a very good hitting team. She is very tough mentally and her location with her pitches was excellent. We swung the bats toward the end of the game and Taylor came up with a huge hit."

Efflandt, who blanked the Red Raiders on 3 hits in 7 innings, had a no-hitter until Randi Peterson lined a single with one out in the sixth. The next Huntley hitter, Arianna Albanese, executed a perfect sacrifice bunt to move Peterson to second. Efflandt then walked heavy-hitting catcher Jenna Mychko intentionally before the freshman struck out Kelsey Hagan to end the inning.

The Red Raiders also threatened to score in the seventh. The first two hitters, Amanda Wisniewski and Tara Lycos, singled to put runners on first and second. Nikki DeMarco laid down a sacrifice bunt to move the runners to second and third. Efflandt settled down and induced Taylor Larson into a groundball back to the pitchers circle and then ended the game by striking out Meagan Flynn.

Efflandt ended with 7 strikeouts and 3 walks.

"I knew I had to pitch with a lot of intensity for seven innings because Huntley is a good hitting team," said Efflandt. "All my pitches were working and I had good location. There was a lot of pressure in the last inning, but I was really pumped up. This was a great win."

Larson, who blanked Cary-Grove for 4 innings, gave up a single to Emma Gaulke to lead off the fifth. Dunne followed with a line drive double to center field that scored Gaulke with the game's only run.

"I got a good inside pitch to hit," said Dunne. "I felt I got all of it. We started hitting the ball at the end of the game. Lindsay pitched a great game."

Larson, the tough-luck loser, gave up 1 run on 6 hits in 6 innings. She struck out five without allowing a walk.

"Taylor was phenomenal, but their pitcher was a little better," said Huntley coach Mark Petryniec. "We had our chances, but couldn't capitalize."