Same winning result for new-look Barrington

Barrington opened its softball season with 12 hits against Stevenson on Friday afternoon at The Dome in Rosemont.

Half of those hits came from two players who combined for 3 at-bats last season, when the Fillies marched all the way to third place in the Class 4A state tourney.

Junior pitcher Keenan Dolezal, who batted three times as a sophomore, and Rachel Krzysko, who was in middle school a year ago, each went 3-for-4 as Barrington topped Stevenson 7-2 in the enclosed 72-degree temperatures.

Conditions will be colder today when the two teams meet again at 2 p.m. in Barrington quad at the Fields of Dreams.

Dolezal's hot hitting was complemented by her solid effort on the mound, where she threw a 4-hitter with 6 strikeouts and no walks.

Those 4 hits came from the only four batters to reach base as the Fillies also excelled in the field.

They ended the game with a nifty 9-1-6 putout where right fielder Caitin Inamoto fielded a sharp RBI single with a runner on second.

She zipped a perfect throw to Dolezal at the pitcher's mound.

Dolezal caught it and tossed the ball to shortstop Erin Ward (1-for-3), who made the tag on the batter trying to reach second base after Stevenson's second run had crossed the plate.

It gave Dolezal (29-3 last spring) her first win with new catcher Krzysko.

"I've known Rachel for a while and I felt like we had really good chemistry," Dolezal said. "She did really well hitting, too, so I'm really happy for her."

Krzysko clubbed 2 doubles and a single in her debut. She is the sister of Loren Krzysko, who became Barrington's all-time home run leader last season, finishing with 42.

Dolezal's hitting was a result of plenty of off-season work.

"I didn't get a chance to hit much last season so I really wanted to prove myself," said Dolezal, who has made a verbal commitment to Loyola. "I love hitting and I liked my catcher. She's a freshman who did really well and so did all the players behind me. We had no errors."

A triple by Abby O'Connor to lead off the second set up Kat Trotter's one-out RBI groundout to first which gave Stevenson (0-2) a 1-0 lead in the top of the second.

Barrington took the lead for good with 2 runs in third.

Senior Mikala Cecola (1-for-3) hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Kelly Katis (2-for-4) and Dolezal singled home pinch runner Jamie Brown with two outs to make it 2-1 in the bottom of the third.

"Keenan is really a great player," said Barrington coach Perry Peterson. "She has worked hard to become the player she is. We are hoping this is a starting point for her."

Also getting hits in their varsity debuts for Barrington were senior Samantha McQueen and freshman Carly Kordich, whose bunt single led off the fourth inning.

Kordich eventually came home on Katis' one-out groundout to short.

O'Connor also contributed to Stevenson's second run in the seventh. She belted a two-out double to left and came home on Dana Morgan's single to right.

"Their pitcher (Dolezal) is good and they've got good defense behind her," said Patriots coach Larry Friedrichs. "We played a little better than Thursday (7-5 loss to Lakes). It was good to see us shut down some things in the first few innings."

Sophomore Myra Peterson threw for the Patriots on Friday while classmate Ruby Mankos was on the mound against Lakes the day before.

"I was pleased with what I saw from my pitchers the last two days," Friedrichs said. "They are two sophomores pitching their first games at the varsity level.

"They were decent junior varsity pitchers last year and they've made a lot of improvement. They've worked hard. And I thought I saw a lot of composure from them. When things went a little south, they didn't seem to get rattled so that was good."