Presto: Wild no-hitter for Schaumburg’s Felde

With the misty and cold weather on Friday, Schaumburg sophomore pitcher Shannon Felde said nothing was really working for her in the first few innings at Hersey.

But Felde managed to work her magic, escaping a few jams and going on to hurl the first no-hitter of her young varsity career.

Her teammates pulled plenty of offense out of the hat and the Saxons rolled to a 13-1 six-inning victory (by 10-run rule) in the Mid-Suburban League crossover.

“I settled down and then I felt better,” said Felde, whose bat was also a magic wand. She went 4-for-4 with 2 doubles, a walk and 2 runs to help lead the Saxons’ 12-hit attack.

“She had a great game,” said Saxons coach Ellen Stoddard, who was also quite a fine-hitting pitcher in her days at Fremd High School. “And especially with these conditions. We talked to Shannon over the summer and told her she would have much more of a pitching role this season. She has come out and looked great. She is always working hard.”

Schaumburg improved to 8-1 and 2-0 in the MSL.

“It’s just pretty much everyone doing their job,” said Felde, who pitched one game last season. “We’re getting the hits when we need them and everyone is fielding well. That makes things a lot easier for the pitcher.”

Senior leadoff batter Hannah Kerr walked to start the game and scored on sophomore catcher Elaine Walker’s groundout to third.

The visitors added another run in the second, as an RBI groundout by sophomore Kelly Poplar scored freshman Paige Alt.

And then the Saxons erupted for 7 runs in the top of the fourth. The first seven Schaumburg batters who came to the plate scored in that inning, started by a walk to Alt. Poplar and Walker had RBI singles in the inning while senior Dana Giannelli was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.

Giannelli (2-for-2) and sophomore Roxanne Kakareka (2-for-3, double) were also multiple hitters for Schaumburg. Senior third baseman Carly Brossard had an RBI and a walk in the game.

“On a day like this, it’s tough for everyone,” Stoddard said. “But our girls came out and played well. They stayed with it. And we are learning along the way, which is what you want to do.”

The Huskies (2-4, 0-2) drew 9 walks but were not able to capitalize as often as they wanted.

“We had runners in scoring position early (with walks in the first inning to Alysia Zaucha, Sarah Platt and Angela Schmiederer) but we couldn’t score them,” said Huskies coach Molly Freeman. “You’ve got to get them in when you get the opportunity and we did not. I didn’t think we swung the bats that well, either.”

Felde did not allow the Huskies to hit the ball out of the infield. Seven of her final 13 outs were strikeouts and she had nine for the game.

Hersey’s only run came in the third inning when Kelsey Panfil led off with a walk, took second on a wild pitch, third on Platt’s groundout and scored on a wild pitch.

“We start our Mid-Suburban League (West) schedule on Monday,” Freeman said. “We are looking forward to it and know we have to come back with a strong effort.”