No. 6 seed Glenbard East took on Elk Grove hall of fame coach Ken Grams’ No. 11 Grenadiers on Wednesday in its opening game of the Class 4A Elk Grove softball regional.

And the Rams got a hall of fame performance from their junior shortstop Lilly Carver.

The third-team all stater from a year ago went 3-for-3 with 5 RBI and 2 home runs, including the last one which ended an 11-0 triumph in six innings for the No. 6-seeded Rams (20-4) who made it back-to-back 20-win seasons under coach Dawn Santos.

“Lilly is one of our great dependable hitters,” said Glenbard East coach Dawn Santos, whose daughter Ashley, a former all-state outfielder for state champion St. Charles North, was back home from college and coaching first base for the Rams. “She (Carver) was all-state last year and is showing it again. Lilly was amazing. She had a great game today.”

Glenbard East will face Lake Park (22-8) for the regional championship at 4:30 p.m. Friday.

Carver’s second blast over the centerfield fence was her 12th of the season and 20th of her three-year varsity career. It marked the fourth time in her career the Illinois-Chicago recruit has hit two homers in a game.

Grams was just as impressed by a defensive play Carver made in the second inning when she went deep into the hole to snare JJ Wirtz’ hard-hit grounder and then threw a perfect strike to first baseman Amelia Clifford for the third out.

The play came with Bella Aguirre on second base after she had collected the Grens’ only hit with a grounder that was fielded in shallow right field by second baseman Reese Kuhlman, who made a terrific play on a hard one-hopper by Aguirre on her next at-bat.

“That was just a big-time major league play,” Grams said of Carver’s robbery of Wirtz. “And at the plate, she hits every ball on the nose. And then she makes that play in the field. It was a heck of a play. With Bella on second base we would have a chance to score. That was our best chance to score in the game.”

That’s because DePaul pledge and junior ace Claire Bolda was keeping the Grens’ bats in check with eight strikeouts, including her 500th of her career which came in the fourth inning.

Bolda’s 503 career strikeouts have shattered the program’s record.

“So we’ve got to celebrate that, too,” said Dawn Santos, who like her daughter was also a state champion softball player in high school (won two with Davenport West in Iowa). “Claire is an amazing pitcher, too. And everyone was hitting today. Our catcher went 3-for- 4.”

Junior receiver Ally Amrhein had singles in her final three at-bats including the RBI in the sixth inning that made it 9-0 before Carver’s game- blast.

“Claire did a great job on the mound,” Carver said. “She really struck out a lot of solid hitters and we stayed together as a team to back her up. The biggest key was our energy in the dugout and on the field and staying composed even when we struggled at the plate. We really came together to score those runs and we had solid base running.”

Sophomore Emma Jaras was also a multiple hitter for the Rams, going 2-for-2 with a walk while sophomore Hannah Berrier, senior Keira Nelson and Bolda each one hit.

“That’s a good looking team,” said Grams, who finished his 46th season with 1,066 wins. “You can see why they’ve had such a good season.”

The Grens’ season ended at 13-12 , with Brianna Magner also striking out eight batters.

“As strange as it sounds, I thought Brianna pitched pretty well,” Grams said. “That one girl (Carver) is tough and they made some good decisions on the bases.”