Crystal Lake Central flexing arms early: Northwest Herald softball notes

Softball teams looking to make waves and play deep into the postseason normally get there with strong pitching.

An ace can certainly get you far, but what about two or three?

At least early on, Crystal Lake Central has shown it has the arms to stir up trouble this spring.

Through Thursday’s action, the No. 7-ranked Class 3A team in the Illinois Coaches Association poll has allowed 15 runs (2.14 runs a game) while the offense has put up 74 (10.57 runs a game).

It’s a coach’s dream to have multiple pitchers make the case for more innings.

“We have an amazing deep staff,” coach Brian Strombom said. “We’ll have the ability to spread it around a little bit.”

Sophomore Oli Victorine, who was hitting 63 mph against Huntley in a 3-0 Fox Valley Conference-opening win Monday, returns as the staff ace after posting a 1.49 ERA, 0.91 WHIP and 170 strikeouts in 103⅔ innings as a freshman.

But the Tigers’ pitching runs much deeper.

Senior Makayla Malone already has a 17-strikeout performance and 6-foot-1 freshman Lily Perocho has stepped right in and looked the part of a seasoned veteran with three wins in three starts. Senior Liv Shaw also will be in the mix.

Victorine, Malone and Perocho have rotated starting in what has amounted to a true staff. It’s something that coaches and Tigers pitchers have been excitedly talking about.

“It makes me excited for what the rest of the season is going to be like,” Malone said after striking out 17 batters against Marian Central on April 3. “We all push each other.

“It’s great to be a part of that.”

A new face sure to make an impact this year is the addition of assistant Bill Walsh, who comes over from Elmhurst College. Walsh has more than a decade of coaching travel softball and also coached the Phenom Baseball 18U team for four years.

Malone said that Walsh brings a “no-nonsense attitude.”

So far, the serious but fun-going Tigers are living up to preseason expectations as the area’s last undefeated team.

Strombom doesn’t want his team to look too far ahead, though.

The FVC, after all, is always a challenge to navigate.

“I do think the record draws attention sometimes, and that’s OK,” Strombom said after the Huntley game to open FVC play. “I just want them to understand this isn’t the only challenge we’re going to face. This is one of the biggest on our schedule to date, but there will be many others.”

Cool Chmiel: Locked in a pitchers’ duel against Crystal Lake Central’s Malone last week, Marian Central ace Christine Chmiel looked calm and cool.

That’s just how the Hurricanes junior operates.

“I just stay really composed, I don’t let the chatter get to me,” said Chmiel, who took a tough-luck loss, allowing two runs (one earned) and striking out 13 in eight innings against the Tigers. “I just really stay with my catcher, it’s just me and her.”

Last year was the first since 2019 that Marian fielded a varsity team as program numbers stayed low after the lost season because of the pandemic. The Hurricanes went 13-13 and Chmiel played a big role in that with 291 strikeouts in 123 innings while also hitting .391.

Marian Central coach Paul Sandall said he doesn’t have much to worry about when Chmiel is throwing. It took only a few games this season for Sandall to let her call her own game.

“I’m lucky to have her,” Sandall said.

That trust has resulted in many big performances already. Two days after losing to Crystal Lake Central, Chmiel went nine innings and struck out 20 in a 2-1 win over Johnsburg.

Strombom, too, came away impressed.

“We hadn’t seen a pitcher that good yet, and we were struggling to adjust to it,” Strombom said of the reigning Chicagoland Christian Conference Pitcher of the Year. “She was really difficult to deal with. She had us riddled for a good portion of the game.”

Marengo gets away: No one has played more games this year than Marengo. While lots of area teams have struggled to find games not affected by cold, rain or snow, the Indians took advantage of more ideal conditions downstate.

Marengo traveled to Carterville and Carbondale for a spring break trip. The results weren’t all there for the Indians, but they tested themselves against some tough competition. That included Carterville, last season’s Class 2A state champion, as well as top-ranked teams from Kentucky.

Marengo is coming off back-to-back Kishwaukee River Conference championships and a 28-7 mark in 2024. But the Indians’ season ended without any postseason hardware, losing to North Boone in the Class 2A Marengo Regional final.

“The [Carterville] pitcher we faced pitched in the state championship, and the four Kentucky schools were just ... one was probably one of the best [high school teams] I’ve ever seen throughout my 28 years,” coach Dwain Nance said. “They were great fundamentally, their defense was awesome and their offense was so fast.

“No. 1, what we learned is we can compete with really good teams, but No. 2, we learned that we got to pick it up a little. Against McCracken (from Paducah, Kentucky), everything they did was just a little bit quicker. We were always a step late. We’re hoping our tough schedule pays off.”

Power surprise: Hampshire’s Ally LeBlanc led off the first inning against Jacobs on Wednesday with an innocent groundout to the pitcher. The junior second baseman didn’t expect her next at-bat to come so quickly, however. The Whip-Purs sent 11 to the plate in an eight-run first, with LeBlanc flexing the biggest muscle.

LeBlanc homered to straight-away center field for a three-run blast, her first over-the-fence home run at any level. This comes after she missed the start of the year with a broken foot.

“It was quite the surprise,” said LeBlanc, a three-year varsity starter. “When I was running to first, I didn’t expect it to get over. It was a high [pitch], which I usually don’t swing at. I’ve done it in practice before, I just didn’t think it was going to happen for me.”