Cook softball notes: Barrington trio blasting home runs at record pace
Former Arkansas standout Loren Krzysko finished a stellar career for Barrington's softball program in 2013 by launching a program-record 42 home runs.
Ten years later, the roster of this year's Mid-Suburban West champion Fillies includes three Division I recruits who have been flexing their muscles over the past few years and that home run record was tied on Monday at the Fields of Dreams in Barrington.
Junior catcher Ema Kavanagh (Arizona) clubbed No. 42 on Monday in a 9-0 win over Palatine.
Senior pitcher Allie Goodwin (Princeton) stands at 41 homers and senior first baseman Ainsley Muno (Northwestern) has 32.
Three D-I recruits on one team is something the talented trio does not take for granted.
"Blessed," is how Kavanagh describes it. "It's an absolute dream. You rarely see three D-I commits (on the same team) going to the schools we are. People dream about it. I am blessed to have Ainsley, a first baseman who is 6-foot, maybe 6-1 on a good day with cleats, and Allie who just throws extremely well in the circle and can hit tanks, too."
Muno and Kavanagh lead the team with 10 homers apiece this spring.
"It's amazing playing with two other stellar athletes," she said. "It's amazing because we feed off each other and we always have each other's backs."
Goodwin, who hit 4 homers in one game against Palatine and had 2 just last week against Fremd before having to leave the game with an injury, has 8 for her senior campaign.
"It's crazy," Goodwin said about playing with Muno and Kavanagh. "For me, it's just the girls I've been playing with forever. For others, they may admire us for what we're doing here but for me it's just two of my best friends and I love playing with them. It's been a pleasure the last few seasons and I'm just enjoying the time we have left together until we graduate."
Kavanagh, of course, will return for one more season.
"It's going to be weird," Kavanagh said "But I know we have a lot of potential for more D-1 athletes. I'm excited to see all of them grow. A lot of their best days are coming. Whether they're going D-1 or not, we're still going to have a strong team, We'll always have the hungry mentality we've had this season."
And that mentality has led to a 21st appearance in the Mid-Suburban League championship game this Thursday.
Barrington (28-4, 16-0) went undefeated in the MSL for the seventh time and will play at MSL East champion Buffalo Grove (21-5, 12-4) at 4:45 p.m.
Barrington opened this spring with a 4-0 win in 14 innings over the Bison on April 18 and 19.
Coincidentally, on May 18 and 19 in 1999, Barrington played a 22-inning game against BG in which Fillies all-area ace Randi Freese earned a 2-0 win over all-area Kim Czapla.
Freese also had the winning hit in the game. Her father Mike is the Fillies' first base coach and her brother Brian works in player development for the University of Wisconsin softball program.
Mighty May for BG:
Buffalo Grove has had a perfect month of May so far, winning all nine of its games, including a key 5-1 win over Hersey which put the Bison in first place in the MSL East.
Coastal Carolina recruit Kate Ryan earned the win with 7 strikeouts while Cathy Veller, McKenna Wagner and O'Malley each had RBI. JJ Jakosalem was 3-for-4 with an RBI and Jenna Kosnoff went 2-for with a homer.
The Bison are the top-seed in the Warren Class 4A sectional.
Kosnoff's bat has been on fire hitting an unheard of .714 in a two week stretch. with 6 HR, 14 RBI and 20 runs scored. She hit 4 home runs last week.
On the mound, she is 5-0 in May with a save and a perfect game last Tuesday against Wheeling. She is hitting .500 for the season.
Hannah Hull is batting .704 in May with 3 homers and she is hitting .479 overall while playing solid defense at third base.
Hull belted her 22nd career homer on Monday against Rolling Meadows, tying Andrea DiPrima for the all-time BG record.
Wagner is batting .458 for the past 2 weeks and .288 overall while the team raised its batting average .126 points from March and April (.288) to May (.414).
Ryan is 4-0 on the mound the past 2 weeks with 2 saves and key wins over Prospect and Hersey.
With 13 strikeouts against Prospect and 7 vs. Hersey, she moved into second place on BG's record board for career strikeouts (341) as she chases Kim Czapla's (1996-99) career record of 359.
At the plate, Ryan is hitting .417 with 11 RBI and 10 runs.
"Several people have mentioned to me that our bats are heating up at the right time, and I could not agree more," said BG first-year coach Martha Kelly, who also directs the varsity Bison cross country and girls basketball teams. "For example, McKenna Wagner singled to drive in our first run vs Prospect. Two batters later, Juliann Jakosalem got everyone pumped up when she got her first homer of the season (2-run blast).
"Against Hersey, Paige Veller drove in our first run to tie the game. Wagner, Maggie Khayyata, Jakosalem and Kayla O'Malley put together a string of hits against Hersey in the bottom of the fourth to break the game open with 3 runs. Our defense is getting it done as well. The girls love playing D and coming up with big plays."
Palatine update:
Leadoff batter Lauren Dettloff leads the Pirates with 10 stolen bases while pitcher Holly Steffus has compiled 113 strikeouts.
The Pirates defeated a strong Conant team, 6-5, last Friday in their penultimate MSL West game.
"Our team is dangerous when we have both offense and defense working together. We can compete and beat anyone," said Pirates coach Nicole Capalbo. "We have been inconsistent in games that we have lost and make too many defensive errors. When our pitchers get ahead in counts, throw to locations, and trust their defense behind them, that's when good things happen."
"We can't always rely on our offense to come through when we are consistently facing good MSL pitchers. The MSL is tough this year. Playing quality teams will definitely help us go far in the playoffs. We will be ready to give whoever we play in the postseason a challenge and I think we will surprise some higher ranked teams."
South surging:
Prior to a twin bill loss to York in Park Ridge last Saturday, Maine South (13-6, 9-1)) had put together an eight-game winning streak.
"Our three pitchers have been doing a fantastic job," said Hawks veteran coach Emmy Pasier. "And the defense is not to be overlooked with only 2 errors."
The Hawks' offense was also sharp in that stretch with 49 hits and 30 RBI.
"We are playing well recently and playing as a team," Pasier added. "We are going to keep working hard. We still have a lot we want to accomplish this season."
St. Viator success: The Lions (9-15) enjoyed a recent 10-day stretch where they went 4 -2. It started with a win over ESCC rival Nazareth, highlighted by an 8-run outburst in the sixth inning. The big hit was from Leah Klostermann, a bases-loaded triple. Alexis Horn and Hannah Grossman also tripled in the same inning.
After losses to Benet 6-4 and Buffalo Grove 14- 4, the Lions swept Niles North on Senior Day 12- 10 and 13 -3. Senior pitcher Allison Swanson won both games while also collecting 3 hits. Hannah Grossman and Jillian Bollard homered back to back.
"l was so happy for Allison," said Lions coach John Scotillo. "She transferred here her junior year and was ineligible but she came to every practice and every game. Over the summer she worked very hard on her pitching and now she is 4-3 this season."
Last Wednesday, the Lions won a suspended game at Grayslake Central 5-3. Trailing 2-0, Maggie Ratzki tied the game with a two-out 2-run single in the fourth before Suzanne Klopp and Brooke singled to start the sixth. Winning pitcher Grace Gerdes-Grabowy (5-11) doubled a run in and Grossman singled in two more.
"During this stretch our hottest hitters have been Alexis Horn (10 hits, Grossman (11 hits, 11 RBI) Brooke Cwick (11 hits) and Jillian Bollard (7 RBI)," Scotillo said. "They've really sparked the offense."
Conant on a roll: Conant's winning season (15-9, 10-5) this spring under coach and former Cougars shortstop Allie Bauch saw the Cougars post wins against the top three teams (Buffalo Grove, Hersey and Prospect) in the MId-Suburban East.
"We've been playing tough this past month and are getting better each game," said Bauch, whose club notched a 3-1 win over Hersey on its Senior Day and won 10 of its last 14 games. " We lost a hard-fought battle to Fremd (5-4) but I am so proud to see this team continue to stay together."
The Cougars have shown strong depth in their offense with seven girls batting over .300 in conference play backed up by Natalie Spaitis, who owns an ERA under 3.0 while holding her opponents to a .220 batting average. "I'm excited to see what's to come for the Cougars," Bauch said.
Maine East update:
Leading hitters for coach Len Labonar's Blue Demons are junior Jayden Coppe (.507, 26 RBI 24 runs), senior Natasha Czajkowki (.452, 12 RBI, 26 runs) and freshman Emma Asien (.368,23 RBI, 14 runs).
In 86 innings on the mound, Coppe had 171 strikeouts and 4 wins.
Wheeling update:
Wildcats veteran coach Mike Caringella said his team is u healthy. Tereesa Petzold has returned to the mound for the Wildcats and Katie Moser is back from the track and field season.
Left fielder Mia Smith, shortstop Alaina Costello, center fielder Kaitlyn Fielding and first baseman Amanda B