Buffalo Grove taking big baby steps
Oakland Raiders football owner Al Davis made famous the expression, "Just Win, Baby!"
It wouldn't be a bad slogan for the Buffalo Grove softball team this season.
Without a senior on the roster, the baby Bison keep winning.
Buffalo Grove improved to 7-0 as junior right-hander Maria Dax (4-0) stopped visiting Evanston 12-2 in six innings on Tuesday.
"We're just babies," said Bison coach Laura Stock, referring to her starting lineup of five juniors, four sophomores and a freshman. "But we don't have time to wait for them to get older.
"We even told Erin (Barton, freshman third baseman), we don't have time for her to be a freshman. They all have to play older than they are."
Sure enough, they're playing like veterans in the early going of the 2010 season.
"It's exciting," said Dax, who tossed a 5-hitter with 3 strikeouts. "We're playing as a team and getting a lot of timely hits."
Lefty-hitting Andrea DiPrima's wind-blown hit just inside the left-field foul line drove in shortstop Sara Penelle with the run that ended the game by the 10-run rule.
Penelle and second baseman Ali Levato, who each stand under 5-foot-5, are the sophomore middle infielders.
"That shortstop (Penelle) really made some nice plays on us," said Evanston first-year coach Kristen Proffitt, who only six years ago as an all-area senior at Maine West threw a no-hitter against BG. "I was happy with how our offense was hitting the ball hard. But defensively, we gave them too many extra bases."
First baseman DiPrima went 3-for-4 with 2 RBI. Catcher KC Dunne (2-for-2, 2 RBI, 2 walks), Penelle (2-for-4) and Barton (2-for-5, 2 RBI) were the other BG multiple hitters.
"It's a lot less pressure when you have a lot of runs on the board," Dax said. "You don't feel as stressed to throw strikes every time. I just throw the pitch that coach Stock calls and my infielders and outfielders make the plays."
Five different players had hits for the Wildkits (3-2).
"Defensively, we are working to get better," said Stock, whose team plays a twinbill at Niles West Saturday. "Offensively, we are working on execution and things like getting bunts down."
Elk Grove 6, Lake Zurich 3: Elk Grove has yet to play on its home diamond.
But life on the road hasn't been all that bad for the Grens, who improved to 4-0 behind Stephanie Maday's 4-hitter with 4 strikeouts and 1 walk in the McCook Max indoor facility as part of the Illinois Bash Jamboree.
Actually, the Grens have played all four of their games - two inside and two outside - on neutral sites.
Junior Jessica Balzano (3-for-3, double, walk, 1 run) was the catalyst on Tuesday, collecting 4 of the Grens' 6 RBI with a 2-run double in the second inning and 2-run single in the third.
Dani Goranson also had an RBI single and Rebecca Walz an RBI fielder's choice.
Amanda Gattone went 3-for-4 with a triple and 1 run for the winners, who host Lane Tech on Thursday.
Maine West 1, Northridge Prep 0: Sophomore Alyssa Bojarski celebrated her 16th birthday with her first win of the season as she struck out six and walked none while tossing a 5-hitter.
She got some terrific defensive support to save the shutout in the sixth inning when junior center fielder Nicole Magravanis threw out back-to-back runners at the plate for the first and second outs.
Both tags were made by Warriors sophomore catcher Katie Fitzgerald. After the second putout, Northridge still had a runner on third base but Bojarski got out of the inning.
"Two great throws by Nicole," said Warriors coach Mike Murin.
Bojarski got the only run she would need in the second inning on Katherine Kusner's RBI double.
Senior Vanessa Bagneschi went 2-for-0 for the host Warriors (1-6).
"We had people on every inning but just couldn't get them in," Murin said. "We were fortunate to get that run early and have it hold up."
Leyden 8, Elmwood Park 2: Sophomore Morgan Maize improved to 2-0 by tossing a 3-hitter with 4 strikeouts and 1 walk.
Ciara Mackey and Dana Thomas (2-for-4) each had triples for the Eagles (4-0) while Dana Sullivan went 3-for-4.