Efflandt in fine form for Cary-Grove

Five perfect innings. A no-hitter for 5 innings.

That pretty much sums up Cary-Grove sophomore Lindsay Efflandt’s terrific pitching effort Wednesday afternoon.

Efflandt, who gave up 1 run on 1 hit in 7 innings, struck out 12 and walked two in hurling the host Trojans to a 8-1 Fox Valley Conference crossover win over Grayslake Central.

“All my pitches were working and I when I struggled a little bit, my teammates picked me up,” said Efflandt. “We have such a good hitting team and I know they will score some runs for me.”

Efflandt, who allowed an unearned run in the second, gave up her only hit in the sixth — a single by Claire Brennan. In the seventh, Efflandt retired the Rams in order with 2 strikeouts. She whiffed Kati Brew to end the game.

“Lindsay has done a great job all season,” said Cary-Grove coach Tammy Olson. “She had great focus and was able to work out of some jams. She was mixing all her pitches well.”

Cary-Grove (20-1), which spotted the Rams (8-15) a 1-0 lead, erupted for 5 runs in the third inning to seize control of the game. In the inning, freshman Lisa Semro stroked a 2-run double while Efflandt and Taylor Dunne collected run-scoring singles. Sarah Leudo lofted a sacrifice fly as the Trojans held a 4-run 5-1 advantage after 3 innings.

Cary-Grove scored an insurance run in the fifth on a RBI double by Alexis Haley And tallied 2 more in the sixth on RBI singles by Semro and Leudo.

Semro led the Trojans offensive assault with 3 hits (3 RBI) while Efflandt, Leudo, Dunne and Emma Gaulke had 2 hits apiece.

“We have good hitters 1 through 9,” said Olson. “We came up with a lot of big hits. The weather has been better the last couple of weeks and we are getting some continuity in our lineup. We are playing almost every day and are playing with a lot of confidence right now.”

Despite the loss, Grayslake Central coach Abbey Tadelman appreciated her team’s effort.

“After playing six straight days last week and on Monday, we got in a good practice yesterday,” said Tadelman. “We had the one bad inning and mistakes are magnified against a quality team like Cary-Grove.

“I like the way we swung the bats. We were aggressive at the plate.We played a solid game.”