Barrington powers past Buffalo Grove in MSL title game
The Barrington softball team hosts the Burlington Central Rockets today.
The Fillies know something about rockets.
They were hitting them all over the yard in Thursday's 40th annual Mid-Suburban League championship at Buffalo Grove.
With plenty of fans lined up down both foul lines, the Fillies gave the big crowd a display of power with a school-record 6 home runs en route to a 13-1 victory in 6 innings.
It started immediately when Tess Bolger led off the game by lining a homer just inside the left field foul pole.
Two batters later, Loren Krzysko put one over the right-center field fence and the Mid-Suburban West champs were on their way to a record 12th conference championship and 10th under Hall of Fame coach Perry Peterson.
Sophomore Keenan Dolezal (22-1) gave up 2 hits in the first 5 innings and senior Cassidy Kraimer (7-0) retired the side in order in the sixth as Barrington improved to 29-1.
“Our girls came ready to hit,” said Peterson, whose senior catcher Raegan Fingerman caught 6 strikeouts from Dolezal. “Most of them knew they had only once chance to be MSL champions, and they were great today.”
Krzysko and classmate Morgan Olszewski each belted 2 homers while seniors Bolger and Sam Rosenfeld both had 1.
The Fillies are now tied with four teams for fourth in IHSA history for the most homers in a single game. The Fillies have a school-record 43 homers this season, 8 shy of the state record shared by Antioch (2010) and O'Fallon (2011).
“Loren and I talk every day about having a good first inning,” Bolger said. “So this was fun. I never thought we'd hit that many. We played great.
“Everyone came out and played hard. I could not have asked for a better first at-bat in my first MSL championship game.”
Krzysko's second homer — the 38th of her career and 14th of the season — came with two outs in the fourth inning, carrying some 260 feet from home plate to dead center.
“I felt at the beginning of the season we were going to do some good things,” said the Arkansas recruit. “The chemistry is just so good. And this is just a first step. All those home runs were crazy. It was awesome. That's what out team is all about. Hitting is always contagious, so once we hit one, more were bound to come.”
Two more came off Olszewski's bat in the fifth and sixth innings, the latter a 3-run shot that made it 13-1. No. 9 hitter Rosenfeld hit her 2-run blast to right-center with one out in the fourth inning.
“We are all working so hard and these are just baby steps leading up to the postseason,” said Olszewski, who was 3-for-3 with a walk and 4 RBI. “This was just a stepping stone.”
The Fillies totaled 9 hits. Three were singles by Krista Moore, Katie Dehnert and Maggie O'Hara.
Barrington led 6-0 when BG (15-9) got its first hit in the bottom of the fourth.
Sophomore Dea Barton led off with a single to center and came home when her sister Erin reached on an error.
Senior catcher Amanda Salzman also singled to right with two outs in the inning before Dolezal got the final out on a grounder to Krzysko.
“We just didn't have it today,” said Bison coach Jamie Paul, whose sophomore ace Julia Camardo struck out seven. “We were the underdog going into the game. We knew that but we just didn't have it.”
The Bison play Willowbrook today.
“We'll bounce back,” said Paul, who guided BG to its first MSL division title (MSL East since 1999. “And we'll start getting ready for the regional.”