Softball: Barrington stays perfect, hands Warren 1st loss
Barrington's home run parade continued on Thursday at the Fields of Dreams and so did the Fillies' perfect record.
Junior Ellie Wintringer belted her fifth homer of the season and 34th of the season for the Fillies (18-0), who took advantage of a 3-run first inning to hand visiting Warren its first loss in nine games, 4-1, in the nonconference contest.
Wintringer's leadoff shot over the right-center field fence in the bottom of the sixth gave winning pitcher Jackie Albrecht a 3-run lead going into the seventh, where she struck out her seventh and eighth batters while raising her record to 11-0.
"You always like to relieve a little pressure from your pitcher, especially when you have a great one like Jackie," Wintringer said.
"Jackie is our rock," said Barrington coach Perry Peterson. "We have a great tandem with two girls (Allie Goodwin is 7-0) and it's nice when you can rotate two pitchers and keep going. Jackie is our only senior so we are a team of veteran players who don't have much experience playing varsity softball but they play on high-level travel teams so they know what they're doing. It's been a lot of fun. Jackie is our leader and has really been spectacular this season."
So have the Fillies' bats, which are only 20 home runs away from the school record of 54 set in 2013. Barrington has hit at least one homer in 16 of its 18 games.
Wintringer had none her freshman year.
"This has kind of been a big year for me, especially being able to hit to the right side," she said. "I think added strength is the difference from my freshman year. I worked a lot in our school's weight room. And lots of credit goes to my hitting coach (Nate Gray) for the past four years. We've worked a lot on seeing outside pitches.
"It feels really good to come out on top, especially against a team like Warren. And I have a travel teammate (Sophie Furniss) on Warren so it was special to play against her."
Wingrinter also had one of Barrington's 2 bases-loaded walks in the first inning, giving her 2 RBI and 21 for the season.
"Ellie is really a terrific player for us," Peterson added. "She is a gamer. She works hard at this and really loves softball. She plays with a lot of intensity and with a lot of love for the game."
Brynn Nevers started the first with double to right and scored the first run. Goodwin (walk) came home for the second run and catcher Emma Kavanagh (single) scored the third run on Nikki Vojack's fielder's choice.
Fillies' sophomore Lizzie Galovich, whose father Steve is the offensive coach for Barrington's football team and mother Jolie teaches chemistry at the school, recorded her first varsity hit with a single to left in the sixth inning. It was only her second varsity at-bat.
Warren's only run came on Ally Badgley's second homer of the season to lead off the fifth inning.
Pitcher Sydney Jackson (6-1) had the Blue Devils' other hit.
"That first inning hurt us," said Warren coach Jenna Charbonneau. "It came back to get us. But I thought we held it together after that. We held our own. We are looking forward to our next game when we will be ready to go."