Fremd hangs on against Meadows

It was the kind of game a team needs to play in order to advance in the postseason.

Fremd grinded out a 6-4 win against Rolling Meadows in Saturday’s Class 4A regional semifinal on its home field by showing resolve, capitalizing on mistakes and turning to an ace when needed.

The biggest play of the game, though, was a result of pure effort. With two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning, the bases loaded, and Fremd leading 6-4, Rolling Meadows’ Joe Kropp laced a ball toward the right-center field gap. Off the bat it looked like it would split the Fremd outfielders and score 3 runs.

Instead, Viking rightfielder Josh Jyawook was able to chase the ball down and make a running catch to end the inning and the threat, which Meadows coach Jim Lindeman called a game-saving play.

It was also a play that helped put the 12th-seeded Vikings (20-13) into Monday’s 10 a.m. regional championship against No. 3 Prospect (22-8).

“I was just making sure I could get to it and not let it fall, because they would have been up and we would have been down in that case,” Jyawook (1-for-4, 2 RBI) said. “I just hustled and helped my pitcher out.”

Fremd coach Christ Piggott says Jyawook is a very good fielder who is adept at running down flyballs. Even with Jyawook’s ability, Piggott thought the ball might landed in the grass.

“It looked like a snow-cone catch out there, but we’ll take it,” Piggott said.

There were other big plays made by the Vikings before Jyawook’s catch that helped propel them to victory. One of those key moments came in the fifth inning when Kurt Kaufman (1-for-4) hit an opposite field, solo home run on an 0-2 count, which proved to be the winning run.

“I was just sticking with my fundamental 0-2 stance, which is to choke up a little bit and spread my stance a little bit more,” Kaufman said. “I took it out to left (field), and it barely went over.”

Kaufman said he was banking on the ball being a flyball out when he hit it. He said he was kind of mad at himself when he was about to round first base, but then saw the ball clear the fence for a homer.

Fremd was down 2-0 after one inning, but was able to score 4 runs in the top of the second thanks in part to a 2-run homer by Connor McWard (2-for-2), which also came on a two-strike count.

“They had good at-bats,” Piggott said of his two players to hit homers. “They were able to battle with two strikes. Their pitcher did a nice job all game of mixing in the off-speed stuff, and had us off balance all game. We didn’t hit too many things hard, but we had some timely hitting when we needed it.”

In a move tailor-made for the postseason, the Vikings turned to Sean Stutzman, who is normally a starter, to finish off the game. Stutzman pitched the final 1⅔ innings, allowing just a hit and a walk while striking out three, and earning the save. Joe Leaf started the game and earned the win.

“We battled, but we made the same mistakes we’ve been making that made us a .500 team,” Lindeman said as the sixth-seeded Mustangs finished 15-16. “You can’t give good teams that many outs and that many opportunities, because they are going to come through and they are going to beat you.”