Softball: Streamwood bats break out against Larkin

Updated: April 20, 2012 10:42PM

The temperatures may have plummeted on Friday, but the Streamwood bats heated up in a hurry.

The Sabres exploded for nine runs in the first inning en route to a 13-2 five-inning victory at Larkin in Upstate Eight Conference action. Kaylie Jambor went 4-for-4 with three RBI to lead the Sabres’ attack. Dani Fisher and Katie Liquori also had three RBI each for Streamwood.

“We needed a day like this,” Streamwood coach Nick Baird said. “We’ve been struggling at the plate the last couple of weeks, but we’ve kept working at it. Yesterday we had our best hitting practice in awhile and it carried over to today. They just had to start believing in themselves again.”

Jambor sliced a two-run opposite field double down the left field line to start the scoring in the first inning. She added an RBI double off the left field fence in the third inning.

“We got down on ourselves the past couple weeks,” Jambor said. “But yesterday in practice everything seemed to click again. Since I’ve been getting mostly outside pitches lately I’ve been working on taking the ball the other way and today I was able to drive a couple that way.”

The Sabres unloaded with seven hits in the first-inning outburst. Jackie Jastrezebski drove in a run on an infield single. Liquori added a two-run single later in the inning. Fisher delivered the biggest blow, a bases-loaded double that cleared the bases.

Streamwood (5-11, 2-7) tacked on two runs in the third inning and two more in the fourth on an RBI double from Kaitlyn Hedger and a run-scoring triple by Liquori.

Hedger, who has missed the passed couple of weeks with a pulled groin muscle, returned to the mound in fine fashion, going the distance to pick up her second win of the season. She scattered six hits while striking out three and walking three.

The Royals (3-17, 0-6) only runs came on a two-run homer off the bat of Alex Buhrow in the third inning. Larkin was plagued by four errors. Kiernan Schock took the loss on the mound.

“You have to admire a scrappy team like Streamwood,” Larkin coach Anne Vogt said. “They came out swinging and took it right to us. It’s tough when you fall behind by that much in the first inning, but I was hoping we would respond by just chipping away at the lead.

“But here we are 20 games into the season and we’re still sitting back and playing a little timid. In practice we are starting to be much more aggressive at the plate and making plays in the field, but it hasn’t transferred over to games yet. That’s what we need to have happen.”

© 2013 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed without permission. For more information about reprints and permissions, visit www.suntimesreprints.com. To order a reprint of this article, click here.