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A winning MO for Barrington

Barrington seniors Maggie O’Hara and Morgan Olszewski have similar initials of M.O.

That could stand for ‘More Offense.’

Because like their teammates, they are both always looking to provide more.

O’Hara belted her fourth homer of the season in the sixth inning of Game 1 against Schaumburg on Wednesday and was the only player in the game with multiple hits.

The right fielder went 2-for-3 with 2 RBI as the Fillies won 7-1 in a game that had been postponed in the fifth inning last week because of lightning.

Olszewski got on base twice in the regularly-scheduled Game 2, including an RBI single in the Fillies’ 3-run third inning.

The left fielder later scored the Fillies’ final run in a 7-0 shutout.

The two wins left the Fillies at 26-1 and 14-0 in the Mid-Suburban West, 1½ games in front of Fremd (12-1), which won 6-3 over Conant on Wednesday.

“Coming into that first game (with 2-1 lead), we told ourselves the score was 0-0,” said Olszewski. “We always have that mentality that’s it a 0-0 game, no matter what the inning.”

“No matter what the score, when we are batting it’s 0-0,” echoed O’Hara, whose homer was the 35th for the Fillies this season. “We know anyone can come back and score runs so each inning we want to add on. If we have 2, 3 or 4 runs, then we want to get to 5, 6 or 7.”

No. 9 hitter Sam Rosenfeld helped the Fillies increase their runs total by going 2-for-3 in Game 2 with a 2-run double in the fifth inning. The lefty batter also had a hit in the first game along with teammates Loren Krzysko (RBI), Erin Ward (double) and Katie Dehnert.

Krista Moore, Krzysko (double), Raegan Fingerman (double) and Olszewski also had hits in Game 2.

While the Fillies were tacking on runs Thursday, sophomore ace Keenan Dolezal (19-1) was making sure the Saxons were not.

Dolezal did not give up a run in the final 2 innings of Game 1 or the 7 innings of Game 2.

She finished with a 1-hitter in the first contest and 11 strikeouts.

Schaumburg’s only hit was an RBI single by Shannon Felde which brought home Dana Giannelli (walk) in the fourth inning.

In the second contest, Dolezal fired a 3-hitter, striking out four with one walk.

“We couldn’t ask for a better pitcher on the mound,” O’Hara said. “She is phenomenal. And we support her 100 percent. We work our tails off to get to any ball in the field for her. She is wonderful.”

Dolezal not only had the support of her defense but the Barrington varsity boys volleyball team also provided encouragement, cheering loudly in the home-side bleachers.

“They really support us when they show up at the games,” Olszewski said. “And it’s a good confidence-booster for us.”

“They showed strong school spirit, that was really cool,” O’Hara said. “We needed these wins. Now we feel more confident going into our final two conference games on Friday (at Hoffman Estates) and Monday (at home vs. Fremd).”

Felde had 2 hits for Schaumburg (15-7, 7-6) in Game 2 while Lindsay Leiber had the other.

“We just need to put it together,” said Saxons coach Ellen Stoddard. “You can’t make 4 errors (Game 2) against a team like Barrington. The playoffs are coming up. We’ve still got time to figure things out.”

Barrington has won 17 straight games in the MSL dating back to last season.

“I felt like we played really well all day,” said Fillies coach Perry Peterson. “The girls knew what they needed to do and did it to the best of their ability.”

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