Brottman's 16 strikeouts lead Fremd past Elk Grove

EAST PEORIA - Hunting them down. One game at a time.

Those words are written on the back of the green T-shirts worn by Fremd softball fans here Friday at the EastSide Centre for the Class 4A state semifinal.

Fremd ace Lena Brottman took those T-shirt words to heart.

She seemed to put down batter after batter and when she was done, her 16 strikeouts were the Class 4A state tourney record as the Vikings stopped Mid-Suburban League counterpart Elk Grove 4-1.

Brottman's 4-hitter and 83rd career win puts the Vikings (33-4) in today's state title game against Sandburg (39-2), which won by the same 4-1 score over Moline in the other semifinal.

The title game will follow the third-place game between Elk Grove (36-5) and Moline (28-9) at 4:30 p.m.

"The nerves were going a little (before the game)," Brottman admitted. "Elk Grove is an amazing program. My defense was great behind me and then to get those insurance runs gave me peace of mind."

Kristen Cetkovic got the best piece of one of Brottman's pitches in the top of the fifth when the junior center fielder slammed her team-high 10th homer of the season over the left-field fence.

That cut the Vikings' lead to 2-1. They had scored twice in the bottom of the fourth on an RBI single by Alexa Cinquegrani and a sacrifice fly by Megan Hubbard. Kelly Voigt and Jenny Schneider scored the runs.

After Cetkovic's blast, the always-poised Brottman went on to strike out the side and her teammates gave her 2 more runs in the bottom of the inning.

Senior catcher Kristine Werling, the team's top hitter at .512, started the fifth-inning rally with a one-out infield single that rolled slowly down the first-base line.

Lauren Zaworski then crushed a triple to the right-center gap for the 3-1 lead.

Voigt followed suit with a triple to right to drive in Zaworski for the 4-1 cushion.

"Oh my gosh, playing for the state championship is an amazing feeling," said Zaworski, who will play for Loyola next season. "I'm so excited for our team. We've been preparing for this game all season. I feel so blessed to be a part of it."

Elk Grove will try to end its winningest season in school history with yet another win.

"Only two teams (in Class 4A) get to end with a win so that's our goal," said Elk Grove Hall of Fame coach Ken Grams, who has 713 career wins.

"Lena (Brottman) was excellent against us. She put the ball where she wanted. It was breaking away from us. She has never had a bad game against us but this was her best."

Senior Stephanie Maday (18-2) and sophomore Dani Goranson (18-3) shared the pitching duties for Elk Grove as they have all season. Maday went 31/3 innings while Goranson went the final 22/3.

"As the game went on, we started getting a little defensive," Grams said. "We had to be aggressive and take a positive approach. For the most part, we were this season. This was our 41st game. I've got no complaints. Lena is a super pitcher who had a great day."

Fremd coach Jim Weaver said it was the exact performance he expected from the school's all-time leader in wins and strikeouts (1,014).

Brottman's first seven outs were on strikes.

"Lena was on," said Weaver, who will pilot Fremd in its first appearance in a state softball title game. "Everything was working for her. She hit her spots. And we know Elk Grove has one of the great lineups in the state (school-record 36 homers). So hats off to Lena."

Besides Cetkovic's big blast, the Grens' other hits were a bloop double to right by Jessica Balzano and singles by Goranson and Krista Soesbe.

Balzano kept alive her 39-game hitting streak, third best in IHSA history. The record is 45.

"This was amazing," Brottman said. "Everyone played with so much heart.

"Elk Grove has an amazing lineup. I can't miss my spots against them. Props to our conference (Mid-Suburban League). We are all so close and it's nice to have two teams represent it down here."

The front of the T-shirts read "The Mission."

The Vikings would love to complete it tonight with a victory.

"It was awesome to have an opportunity down here last year (taking third place)," Brottman said. "I think that helped us this year.

Asked about the opportunity ahead of the Vikings against Sandburg, Brottman said: "I'm looking at this as just another softball game. We've got to buckle down and go after the championship."