Softball: Barrington's rally falls just short

Barrington dealt with countless obstacles in its quest to win the program's first state softball championship on Friday afternoon.

The Fillies endured numerous rain delays, a constant rain throughout the game on the turf field, and fought back from numerous rallies against highly ranked Marist.

The Fillies nearly overcome every setback.

But the Redhawks were able to score 2 runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to pull off a 6-5 victory in a Class 4A state semifinals at the Louisville Slugger complex in Peoria. The Fillies (33-6), in the program's 11th trip to state, will have to settle for the third-place game - against Edwardsville - at 1 p.m. on Saturday afternoon. The Fillies seek the program's fifth third-place trophy after placing second twice and fourth also two times.

Barrington coach Perry Peterson, in his 30th season, admitted it was a tough loss but he credited his players for showing tremendous heart and resolve battling the Redhawks to the wire.

"We had to battle of a lot of challenging things, from the weather delay at the start of the game and the weather issues in the game and the delay in the game," Peterson said. "We had the stopping and starting of the game. That's tough. But to the credit of our players, the kids played hard and battled and believed in themselves and kept competing."

The Fillies belted 5 hits in the loss, led by a stellar game from Ellie Wintringer. The senior was 2-for-3 with a double to go with 4 RBI. Wintringer raised her season totals to 53 hits, including 14 doubles, to go with 51 RBI. She drilled a 2-out double to right-center field that plated 2 runs in the top of the third inning to give the Fillies a 4-2 lead. Brynn Nevers had one hit and scored 2 runs to lift her total to a single-season school record 70 runs scored.

"I'm so happy for Ellie," Peterson said. "She had a great four-year career, and did a great job batting today. She's really special. She did a great job. Ellie's best year has been her senior year. That's the way it should be - to finish your career on a high note."

The Fillies nearly tied the game in the top of the seventh inning, loading the bases with 2 outs. Barrington's rally started with two outs, when Allie Goodwin walked, Emma Kavanagh doubled to left-center and Ainsley Muno was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Wintringer walked to cut the deficit to 6-5 but the Redhawks (29-5-1) advanced to the state title game by forcing a fly out to end the game.

"Marist is a great team, but I think the key for us was to come into the game and being confident," Kavanagh said. "That was missing the last few times we played them. We were looking forward to this game and playing a tough team. It just didn't end the way we wanted, but we almost got that (key) hit in the seventh."

The Redhawks, who have three players committed to play in the Big Ten Conference, finished with 6 hits off Goodwin (29-7). The Princeton recruit shut down the powerful Marist offense for most of the game, walking 4 batters and striking out 3, with all 4 walks coming around to score for Marist.

"(Marist) has some really good hitters, and a lot of them are committed to play in college," Goodwin said. "We played them earlier in the season, so we knew they make good contact. We tried to limit their base hits. It was a tough game, and mentally challenging to pitch in the (rainy) weather. It was not the greatest conditions. We all tried to push through it, and keep going.

"I think I worked well with Emma. We tried to mix it up and limit the walks. Earlier in the season, we gave them too many free passes. I just wanted them to put the ball in play, let the defense do the work and just pitch to contact. Marist hit the ball hard a lot of times and did a good job of moving around the runners. We had a chance in the seventh, and almost did it. This is a tough loss, but we battled to the last pitch. We'll come back tomorrow and try and do some great things. At the end of the day, only one team can win state."

The Fillies, who entered the game with a single-season state record 78 home runs, didn't hit a home run and took a 2-0 lead in the first inning in the program's 23rd game at state.

"Marist has hitters up and down the order, and a lot of superstars," Peterson said. "We battled to the end. It was a good effort by our kids. Marist destroyed us last year and 4-1 this year. I give our kids a lot of credit. They believed in themselves and kept competing."

Kavanagh said the Fillies are ready to bounce back for Saturday's third-place game.

"It's bittersweet but we showed a lot of grit and fought hard and can hold our heads high," she said. "We put our best foot forward. It just didn't happen to fall our way."

Goodwin agreed: "A lot of people know Barrington has never won a state title. We all thought this was the year. Marist is a great team. We had an opportunity. We've had a great season. Hopefully, we can win Saturday's game. We've accomplished a lot this year. We made it very far, and had a great year."