More power ball as Fremd stops Warren

The home run parade continued for Fremd's softball team Wednesday afternoon at the Buffalo Grove Class 4A sectional.

And the Vikings rode it right into Saturday's championship game.

Senior third baseman Kelly Voigt belted a solo homer to left-center in the second inning - her third in two games - and classmate Lauren Zaworski added a 3-run blast in the third as top-seeded Fremd went on to post a 5-1 triumph over No. 4 Warren.

Fremd (30-4), which has set a school record of more than 30 homers this season, will meet the winner of today's semifinal between No. 2 Barrington (32-5) and No. 6 Lake Zurich (23-11) for the title at 11 a.m. Saturday.

Fremd senior ace Lena Brottman (28-2) fired a 3-hitter for her 80th career win, losing her shutout in the top of the seventh when Warren pitcher Kayla Hurd belted a one-out homer over the center-field fence.

Zaworski's seventh homer of the spring and 15th of her career was not the only damage handed out by the Loyola-bound senior. She went 3-for-3, doubled twice, including a one-out RBI liner to left which brought home catcher Kristine Werling (1-for-2) for a 5-0 lead in the bottom of the fifth.

"That's why (Zaworski is) our No. 3 hitter," said Vikings coach Jim Weaver, who has guided the Vikes to their second straight 30-win season and fourth in school history. "It was a good day for Z."

And for the Vikings' offense, which had some rockets hauled in with terrific catches by the Warren outfielders.

Center fielder Alex Booker robbed cleanup batter Jenny Schneider with a great diving catch after Zaworski's homer.

Left fielder Lexi Leneau stole extra bases from Voigt in the fifth with a diving catch of a hard-hit liner.

"How many line-drive outs did we have?" asked Weaver, who also got a perfect sacrifice bunt from Allie Gaeding to set up Zaworski's fifth-inning RBI. "We hit the ball hard all day and they played great defense. Give them credit for the defense."

"We had some phenomenal defense," said Warren coach Carri McGahan, whose team (28-8) set a school record for wins. "Lexi and Alex have really turned it on. Alex (Booker, who will play at Illinois) really did a nice job helping our other two outfielders (Leneau and right fielder Sarah Shanders, who also collected a nice putout on Voigt)."

Fremd had at least 1 hit in each first 5 innings, including sophomore Megan Hubbard's one-out single in the fourth.

Voigt's homer was her fifth of the season.

Zaworski's 4 RBI give her a school-record 126 for her career and 44 this spring.

"I just felt loose up at the plate and that makes a difference," Zaworski said. "I went to the hitting cages Tuesday and that helped. Mr. Weaver gave us some thoughts on staying loose and just enjoying each game one at a time.

"Our energy was high and we had a lot of good defense, hitting and pitching."

Brottman struck out nine and did not walk a batter.

"Warren has a good lineup," Weaver said. "So it was good to see Lena pitch well.

"Their pitcher (Hurd) is good and she racks up a lot of strikeouts. We came in with a certain way we wanted to attack her, and the second time around it paid dividends."

Hurd called the Vikings one of the best lineups she has faced.

"I didn't want to be shut out," said Hurd, who will play at Grand Valley State in Michigan next season. "My coach told me I was pulling my head and I had to keep it in so I took her advice. It was a good last at-bat for my high school career.

"This was a season to remember," Hurd added. "I could not be prouder of all my teammates. We had goals to win a conference title (tri-North Suburban Conference Lake champs) and regional, and we did both."

Besides Hurd's homer, Sarah Clauser and Paige Dombrowski had the other hits (each two-out singles in the first and fifth innings) for Warren.

Hurd was coming off a 2-0 shutout over Palatine in the regional final when she threw a 2-hitter with 10 strikeouts. She struck out seven Wednesday and allowed 7 hits.

"Kayla did a good job early to keep them (Fremd) down a little," McGahan said. "By far, Fremd was one of the most challenging hitting teams we have seen. You can see why they set a school record for home runs."