Harlem, North Boone softball show off strongest batteries midway through season

Having the best pitcher in the conference AND the best catcher in the conference is not only unique, but it's about as much of an advantage as you can have in softball.

And when that pitcher and catcher can hit as well as anybody in the entire region, that boosts that advantage even higher.

Around here, there are two teams that can boast about just that scenario.

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"It's pretty special," Harlem head coach Kurt Head said. "It's pretty much a coach's dream."

Harlem, which was 5-4 overall and 3-1 in the NIC-10 headed into this key stretch of the season, has at the very least, one of the best pitchers in the league (Alaina Schwanke) and one of the top catchers (Aubrey Burbach).

"I mean, they both just do it all, and they can take over a game," North Boone head coach Tim Fleming said of his star pitcher (Cami Carter) and catcher (Dani Goodman).

North Boone is 10-2 overall and 4-0 in the Big Northern Conference and is steamrolling teams using Carter, clearly the strongest pitcher in the league, and Goodman, also probably hands-down the best at her position. And they will sure be called upon as the Vikings have a big stretch of games coming up, including a showdown with the other team that is undefeated in the BNC, Stillman Valley (12-6, 4-0).

Here's how they have changed the entire complexion of their teams:

Harlem's battery dominates

Schwanke led the NIC-10 with 168 strikeouts last season and she had a 0.96 ERA and a 14-6 record. At the plate, she hit .472 with 31 RBIs, and the combination of skills earned her the NIC-10 MVP as a junior.

As expected, she's doing the same things out there this year as a senior. She had 33 strikeouts and no walks through the first week of NIC-10 action.

And she gives a lot of the credit to her batterymate, Burbach.

"She just controls the entire field, and she lets me just worry about one thing — the batter," Schwanke said of Burbach.

She was also 9-for-10 at the plate in the first three games versus NIC-10 opponents for Harlem.

Harlem dropped a big NIC-10 showdown with Belvidere North, 3-2 on Monday night as the NIC-10 standings begin to unfold. But only three teams in the NIC-10 were over .500 for the season at the midway point, which was about the start of this week.

And Schwanke and the Huskies are just getting warmed up.

Burbach, who was a first-team all-NIC-10 catcher last year, is playing at an even higher level as a junior this year. She hit .496 last year, has climbed to just over .500 this season, and feels confident she has even more in the tank.

"Everyone trusts that Alaina is going to do her thing out there, so we all know we have to bring our A-game," Burbach said. "Alaina and I are both working on being the best we can be, no matter where we are in the game."

Harlem was set to host one-win Boylan on Wednesday, but Friday's showdown in Hononegah (10-1, 4-0) will be big in deciding who nabs control of the league at this phase.

"We're going to learn a lot here coming up," Burbach added.

Harlem hosts Belvidere North (6-6, 4-0) on May 6, the same day that Hononegah is at Freeport (6-3, 2-2), in a couple of more key games coming up in the NIC-10.

North Boone's battery controls

The battery of Carter and Goodman has been just as good, and it has North Boone on an undefeated collision course with Stillman Valley. The two teams meet up at 4:30 p.m. Friday in Stillman Valley.

"It's a great start, but we all know it doesn't mean anything if you don't have a great finish," said Carter, who was 6-2 on the hill with a 2.89 ERA with 58 Ks at midweek. "

Carter is a first-team All-State returner who led the BNC in batting average (.578) and homers (11) and set school records with strikeouts (235), wins (21) and 65 RBIs. Goodman held the RBIs record before Carter broke it, with 60 her freshman year.

She then went on to a second-team All-State season last year and was hitting .455 with six homers and 23 RBIs at the midseason point.

A lot of what North Boone can do from here rides on the shoulders of Carter and Goodman.

"Those two are such great leaders," Fleming said. "And now we'll see just how good."

North Boone will host Winnebago (5-5, 2-1) on April 29 in another of the key late-season showdowns in the BNC. The regular season ends on May 11.

Jay Taft is a Rockford Register Star sports reporter. Email him at jtaft@rrstar.com and follow him on Twitter at @JayTaft. Sign up for the Rockford High School newsletter at rrstar.com. Jay has covered a wide variety of sports, from the Chicago Bears to youth sports, since the turn of the century at the Register Star, and for over 30 years all together.

This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Harlem, North Boone softball batteries have been best in first half