Softball: Barrington earns state berth behind Goodwin's 4-hit shutout
Former Barrington softball star Kendall Peterson, who plays for Northwestern, participated in the College World Series just last week.
On Tuesday night at Barrington's Fields of Dreams, her father Perry directed the Fillies to the ultimate destination in high school softball.
State-ranked Barrington (33-5) advanced to semifinals of the Class 4A tourney with a 6-0 victory over Warren (24-8).
The Fillies will face Marist (28-5-1) at 3 p.m. on Friday at the Louisville Slugger complex in Peoria.
It marks the 11th time Barrington will appear in the state finals, the most recent in 2017 when it placed third.
"It's been since Kendall Peterson was a sophomore here that we've gone down state," said Perry Peterson, now 908-200. "It's been a long stretch and I'm just excited for the kids."
Barrington has been second twice (07, 08), third four times (04, 05, 13, 17) and fourth twice (93,95) under Peterson, who is now in his 30th season with the Fillies after one season as the St. Viator coach in 1992.
Junior first baseman Ainsley Muno boosted the Fillies' state record home run total 78 when she belted a 3-run blast (her 15th) to left in the third inning and it proved to be plenty for junior pitcher Allie Goodwin (29-5) who tossed a 4-hitter to her sophomore catcher Emma Kavanagh.
"To pitch zeros in this type of environment where offense is king today, you've got to tip your cap to Allie Goodwin," Peterson said.
Goodwin, who went 3-4, belted a 2-run double down the left field line to make it 5-0 in the fifth inning.
Goodwin retired the last nine batters she faced.
"Allie pitched a gem," added Muno, who also made some defensive gems at first. "This is really exciting. We've battled through so much to get here."
Barrington extended the lead to 6-0 in the fifth when Muno led off by being hit by a pitch. She went second on Ellie Wintringer's single to center.
Nikki Vojack's sacrifice bunt advanced the runners to second and third. Muno then came home when Teagan Buckley reached on a fielder's choice error.
Barrington is now 9-3 in supersectionals.
Warren was making its fifth appearance in a supersectional, winning one in 2014 when it won the state crown.
The Blue Devils got their 4 hits from Hailey Conger, Sophie Furniss, Cynthia Mobile and Nikki Peter.
Conger, the North Suburban Conference Player of the Year and leadoff batter, had to leave the game in the third inning after suffering a knee injury while running the bases.
"She did it rounding third base," said Warren coach Jenna Charbonneau. "That was tough timing for us because it was a big moment where we would have had runners on first and third.
"But we fought all the way to the end. We had a tough go of it but the girls kept going."
"I felt real bad for her (Conger)," Peterson said. "She is such a terrific player and that was unfortunate. She has a bright future ahead of her at Butler."
The future at the Fields of Dreams will get a new look for next season.
"New turf, video scoreboard, padded walls like Oklahoma's softball stadium," Peterson said.
"So two things. I wanted to win my very last game here the way the field is today and I wanted to make sure we won for (retiring) Mike Obsuszt in his last game as athletic director at Barrington High School."