Softball: Hersey slugs its way past Schaumburg
It was a windy slugfest on Thursday in Arlington Heights but Hersey, using a 10-run fourth inning, was able to breeze past Schaumburg in five innings, 23-13, in a Mid-Suburban League softball crossover.
The explosive inning for the Huskies included 3 homers to right field.
Catcher Liv Christopher's 2-run round tripper was of the wind blown inside-the-park variety. Kate Adamski's solo blast bounced off the top of the fence and Val Allen's 3-run blast easily sailed over.
In all, the Huskies (6-2, 1-1) had 9 hits in the inning that put them in front 18-6.
"I don't know if I've ever had an inning like that," said Hersey coach Molly Freeman, whose team finished with 19 hits. "It just becomes contagious. One person gets a hit and the next one moves her over. You start to put something together."
Adamski, a junior shortstop, actually had a double and a homer in the big inning that led to the best game of her two-year varsity career as she went 4-for-5 with 3 RBI from the No. 6 spot.
"The energy was good throughout the whole game," Adamski said. "The wind was tough but we just put our hits together."
"It was so fun," said senior cleanup hitter Allen (2-for-4 4 RBI), who plans to study kinesiology at Tennessee. "Our energy just bounces off each other."
Christopher went 3-for-3 with 2 walks, a homer and double from the leadoff spot. Winning pitcher Sabrina DiVito was 3-for-5 with an RBI double while Brooke Sharlau, Amelia Meyer and Reese Bowden each had 2 hits.
Bowden was 2-for-2 in a pinch-hit role with a 2-run double.
"Although the game went five innings, our batters really had to work," Freeman added. "We had a lot of 0-2 counts from which we battled back for hits. And I thought our battery of Liv and Sabrina (pitcher) did a really good job fighting against a lot of tough batters. We hit really well and so did they. Schaumburg's bats were really good.
"Val was terrific offensively and defensively. The wind really didn't affect her (playing center field). She hung in there and understood how to play the wind so I was proud of that."
Schaumburg's offense was led by senior first baseman Jordan Karson, who went 4-for-4 with 2 RBI and made a nifty catch of a pop foul near the first base fence for the first out of Hersey's big fourth inning.
Other top hitters for the Saxons (1-3, 1-2) were senior Payton Dolecki (2-for-4 RBI), senior pitcher Morgan Miller (2-for-4), senior cleanup batter Marisa Vodicka (3-for-3, triple, 3 RBI), sophomore Madi Dolecki (2-for-3, double, 2 RBI) and junior Abbie Greenberg (2-for-3).
"Normally when you score 13 runs, you're probably going to win," said Saxons coach Ellen Abreu. "Offensively, we're good. We just have to clean up some things on defense. It's still early in the season and we have some time."