Goranson delivers for Elk Grove

Updated: May 5, 2011 3:13PM

Dani Goranson arrived at Fremd in warrior mode Wednesday afternoon. She accented her persona by wearing green-shaded eye liner.

“We just had a two-game losing streak and I wanted to annihilate somebody,” the junior Elk Grove star explained. Goranson didn’t disappoint.

She fired her first career no-hitter and recorded two key hits in leading the top-ranked Grenadiers to the 3-0 victory over the No. 6 Vikings in a Mid-Suburban crossover game in Palatine.

“Dani was magnificent,” Elk Grove coach Ken Grams said.

In a showdown involving elite pitchers Goranson and Fremd‘s Rachel Doering (9-1), Michigan State-recruit Goranson overpowered the deep and talented Fremd lineup with 13 strike outs and no walks.

“You have to give Dani a lot of credit,“ Fremd coach Jim Weaver said. “Her change up was very good, and she had excellent speed. I think the biggest difference between this year and last was her movement. She has a lot more movement with her pitches.“

Caitlin Patenaude was the only player to reach base for the Vikings (18-2-1, 7-2) on a fielding error in third inning.

Goranson (16-3) struck out nine Fremd batters through the first four innings. “My change up was working reasonably well, and I had good speed on the outside,” she said. “I was just really pumped up for this game.”

Elk Grove (17-3, 8-1) avenged a loss to the Vikings in last year’s 4A state semifinals. “It was good to finally get a victory against them,” Goranson said.

She also keyed the team’s first run. After second baseman Jessica Balzano reached on an error to open the game, Goranson’s single pushed her to second base with one out. Right fielder Kristen Cetkovic punched Balzano in with a sharp single into right field with two outs.

Goranson led off the top of the sixth with another single into right-center. Junior Megan Keegan put the game out of reach with a towering two-run home run over the left field fence. “I was aiming for the fence or anything,” Keegan said. “I was just trying to make contact.” It was her team’s leading sixth home run of the year.

Doering was also impressive. She struck out five and allowed six hits. “The first run was unearned, and the home run was my fault, I called a bad pitch,” Weaver said. “I thought she pitched very well.”

“There were one or two pitches I wish I had back,” Doering said.

Fremd senior shortstop Allie Gaeding, the team’s offensive spark, twice tried to bunt to try to generate some offense. “She’s a good pitcher, and we knew that,” Gaeding said. “We tried to do some different things, move up in the box, but she made it very difficult to get anything going offensively.”

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