Softball: Elgin, Kelly Bremer power past rival Larkin
Updated: April 25, 2012 9:52PM
In a way, Elgin’s Kelly Bremer and Hannah Perryman were good enough without using the full repertoire Wednesday in a 9-0 Upstate Eight River road victory over rival Larkin.
Bremer checked her swing and hit a two-run home run in the first inning to start the scoring and Perryman struck out 12 while allowing four hits on the day without reaching back much for her fastball.
“I think I threw maybe two,” Perryman said as she improved to 10-6 on the season. “They hadn’t been able to really hit the rise and curve so I didn’t have to resort to a pitch that’s got to be a strike, really.”
Alex Buhrow, Maggie Hofmann and Beth Barry singled and Lexi Smithberg doubled for Larkin (3-18, 0-8), but the only other Royals base runner was in the third when Hofmann drew her team’s only walk.
So without her sister Jennah available to pitch due to a shoulder injury, Hannah saved her arm in a way by avoiding many fastballs. The win was Perryman’s second in two days.
“She’s been a real workhorse for us,” said Elgin coach Chad Dahlman, who called Jennah Perryman “day to day” because of her shoulder soreness.
“Hannah kept us off balance with the rise ball, obviously,” Larkin coach Anne Vogt said. “We knew it was coming. We were practicing all week.
“She did give us more opportunities than I’d think. We didn’t capitalize. We got some counts in our favor and then we were looking for ball four rather than looking for a decent pitch to hit on 3-1.”
Perryman had beaten St. Charles East Tuesday.
“It’s tough,” she said about getting extra work with the Maroons short on live arms. “But I like it.”
Elgin (13-9, 6-5) broke the game open by batting around in the third for three runs, but it was the homer by Perryman’s catcher, Bremer, in the first that set the tempo for Elgin against losing pitcher Kiernan Schock (3-14).
Anna Eckholm had singled leading off. After two outs, Bremer seemed to stop her swing but made such solid contact that the ball carried high over the fence in center.
“I just did a ‘power V,’” she said about her first home run of the season. “I got good contact and was able to take it out.”
“I told her if you finished the swing then it would be in the houses (behind Larkin’s field),” Perryman joked.
Bremer went 3-for-4 with an RBI single in the third and a double in the sixth. She scored three runs.
“She’s a strong girl,” Dahlman said. “She got jammed a bit (on the homer). She’s got a lot of power but usually hits to the gaps. She leads the team in the doubles department.”
The Maroons had nine hits off Schock, who struck out seven and walked three.
Eckholm went 2-for-3 with a fourth-inning triple and two runs scored, Bri Wright was 2-for-3 with an RBI and Monica Stockman had a double. Jennah Perryman, who is still able to bat despite her injury, served as DH and had three RBI, including a two-run single.
“Hats off to them,” Vogt said. “They played a great game. I know the Elgin-Larkin game is always a big deal and our kids came out primed and ready to go and really we played a better game defensively (3 errors) than what we had been doing.”
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