Softball: Sweeney slugs Barrington to victory
Barrington senior Liz Sweeney began the week by hitting the softball over the fence at Wheeling in her first at-bat on Monday for a grand slam.
She has been slamming the ball ever since.
On Tuesday, it was a 2-run homer over the right center field fence at the Fields of Dreams in Barrington that sparked a triumph over Fremd.
On Wednesday, she cleared the fences two more times at the Field of Dreams.
Sweeney's solo shot in the second inning and 2-run blast in the third when she batted twice in a 13-run inning helped the Fillies' offense en route to a 27-2 five-inning triumph over Prospect, the home team on the scoreboard.
Sweeney had a stretch of 4 homers in 8 at-bats.
Following her fourth homer, she had a 2-run single and a RBI groundout giving her 6 RBI for the game and 13 RBI since Monday's grand slam.
Other top hitters for the Fillies (21-4, 9-2) were Rachel Krzysko (4-for-5, 2 doubles, 5 RBI), Abbey Jacobsen (4-for-4, double, 4 RBI), Rachel Macdonald (3-for-5, double, 2 RBI), Haley Luczak (3-for-5, double), Jamie Brown (3-for-4, double, 2 RBI), Kelly Katis (3-for-5, 3 RBI) and Carly Kordich (2-for-4, double, RBI).
Eleven different Fillies had at least 1 hit.
Sophomore Catherine McMahon (16-3) got the win with 4 strikeouts and 4 hits in the first three innings. Classmate Caroline Hoppe went the final two innings, striking out three with no hits.
Sophomore Colleen Palczysnki (1-for-2) belted a two out 2-run homer in the first inning to give the Knights a 2-0 lead.
Alex Kanter, who was on base for Palczynski's homer, was 2-for-3 while Alyssa Cacini (1-for-2) had the other hit for Prospect (4-15, 2-8).
Buffalo Grove 11, Hoffman Estates 1 (5 inn): Emily Carnes and Grace Gran each collected a pair of hits and Alyssa DePhillips earned the win for the host Bison (4-15, 2-10) in the MSL crossover.
Olivia Morini, Katie Fontanetta and DePhillips each had 1 hit for BG while Brynn Connelly and Jordyn Fera (double) had hits for Hoffman Estates (3-17, 1-9).
Jasmine Avalos, Lauren Beiersdorf, DePhillips and Carnes (2) each had 2 RBI for BG. Gran and Bailey Williams had 1 apiece.
St. Viator 10, Marian Catholic 4: Jenna Breslin had 2 homers and Addy Swiderski one for the Lions, who also recievd doubles from Cam VanValkenburg, Breslin, Swiderski and Olivia Michalik.
St. Viator (9-12, 1-5) led 2-0 on Breslin's 2-run homer in the top of the first in Woodstock.
After Marian Catholic Central scored 4 runs in the first inning, Lions pitcher Grace Kaiser reeled off 6 scoreless innings.
The Lions trailed 4-3 in the third inning when Aryana Ziakas and Kaiser led off with a singles.
That set the stage for Swiderski, who belted a 3-run homer for the game-winning RBI.
Breslin extended the lead in the fifth inning with her second homer.
St. Viator added 3 more runs in the sixth when VanValkenburg reached on her third hit.
Breslin (4 RBI) singled her home and Swiderski (5 RBI capped the scoring with a double.
"We were shutout Monday by them (Marian Catholic Central." said St. Viator coach Jon Scotillo. "I could feel the energy on our bench today. I knew they were ready to break out in a big way. They really proved that hitting is contagious."