Softball: Barrington escapes with win over St. Charles North

Barrington senior pitcher Allie Goodwin breathed a sigh of relief late in Monday's game.

In a battle of two teams which advanced to the Class 4A state tournament last season, Goodwin was not her typical dominant self against defending state champion St. Charles North.

Through the first three innings, Goodwin was pitching a gem. She hadn't allowed a hit and recorded six strikeouts, but she walked four batters.

But upon further review, she was battling.

Then, in the top of the sixth inning, Goodwin faced her second two-out, bases-loaded threat of the game. St. Charles North cleanup hitter Megan Bauwens laced a slicing line drive down the right-field line.

But the ball was ruled foul, just by a few inches. Goodwin eventually escaped the threat by getting Bauwens out to end the inning with a deep fly ball to the warning track in left-center field.

"They started getting singles, and then I saw that ball which looked like it was a fair ball and it would've been a whole different ballgame," Goodwin said. "We got some luck. That would've been a rough one."

The Fillies needed some luck to survive, scoring three runs in the first two innings to escape with a 5-2 victory over St. Charles North in a six inning-plus game at the Field of Dreams Complex.

The Fillies (3-1) could easily have pulled out a runaway victory or succumbed to a defeat. The nonconference game lasted two-plus hours, and featured numerous runners on base for both teams and several tense moments. Goodwin helped her own cause with a pair of hits, including an RBI single. Mimi Cline added two hits and an RBI.

"It's two really good teams," Barrington coach Perry Peterson said. "They have a great team with terrific coaches, and we wanted to make sure to schedule them. It's two similar teams, and we learned a lot more participating at this level. It was a great game between two really good teams, and we have to keep building off this. It has been a long 12 days since our bad loss.

"Today was a big day for us. You could see on our faces they wanted to do better and wanted to play harder. They came out and got a couple of hits and runs right away."

Goodwin (3-1) pitched all six innings, weaving her way out of jam after jam to help the Fillies gain some momentum after an extended break following their shocking 10-0 defeat to highly ranked Antioch on March 22.

The Princeton recruit allowed seven hits and struck out eight before the game was called due to rain and the threat of lightning with a runner on base and no outs in the top of the seventh inning.

"I know St. Charles North is a really scrappy team and scores a lot of runs," Goodwin said. "We knew that because we saw them last year. They have a good ability to get on base and score runs. Our defense did a good job adjusting and getting out of tough innings, and maintained the momentum and we were able to score enough runs."

The North Stars (2-1) battled some rust after only playing only two games until Monday's big showdown. They relied on their two-pitcher combination of senior starter Ava Goettel (2-1) and sophomore Paige Murray to keep the Fillies' big bats in check. Murray pitched stellar in relief, tossing three solid innings to give her team a chance to pull out the road win.

"It has really worked well with Ava starting and then me coming in, even last year," Murray said. "Barrington is a really good team. We had to come out and give it all we got, even though it was an early season game. Every game counts."

Murray said her screwball and changeup were her main pitches working against the Fillies, helping her stay out of trouble in the final three innings. Murray said she's aiming to build off her freshman season.

"I feel a lot more confident, just knowing the team better and getting more experience," Murray said.

St. Charles North coach Tom Poulin said his team displayed some grit overcoming a few rough innings and nearly coming away with a win. Goodwin buckled down to end both bases-loaded threats.

Leadoff hitter Leigh VandeHei had two hits - a single and a triple - and reached base four times. Sophia Olman and Ginger Ritter both knocked in a run with singles up the middle.

"We left a lot of runners in scoring position and had quality at-bats," Poulin said. "We gave them spring break off, but this was good for us. It was a tall task to get ready for a team like Barrington. We try and schedule a tough schedule. Games like this will pay off come tournament time. We want to get back to playing a lot of games."