Cary-Grove downs Palatine for first win
Cary-Grove had the right batter at the plate to fit the situation.
Brianne Prank, who drove in all the Trojans' runs on the day, drilled a single to center field to score Sarah Purpura with the winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning to give Cary-Grove an exhilarating 3-2 win over Palatine in nonconference softball action in Cary Thursday afternoon.
"I got a good pitch to hit," said Prank. "I just wanted to make good contact. It was a good win for us. I saw the ball well all day and had good swings."
Cary-Grove coach Tammy Olson was glad to see Prank at the plate with the game on the line.
"Brianne had really good swings all day," said Olson. "She saw the ball well and really drove it. I thought they might walk her. Brianne is turning into a very good run producer."
Cary-Grove (1-3) got on the scoreboard with a run in the first on an infield groundout by Prank.
Prank then gave the Trojans a 2-0 lead in the fifth with an RBI single.
Cary-Grove pitcher Amanda DeGroote blanked Palatine (2-3) for six innings on 4 singles.
The Pirates' biggest threat came in the third when Maria Howell and Victoria Parrott singled with two outs but cleanup hitter Emily Griffin grounded back to DeGroote for the third out of the inning.
Cary-Grove's defense, which was flawless for six innings behind DeGroote, fell apart at the seams in the seventh.
Benefiting from 2 Cary-Grove errors, Palatine knotted the score on an RBI single by Nora Walsh.
In the seventh, Purpura singled with one out and moved to third on a single Molly MacDuff which set up Prank's game-winning single.
Palatine wasted an excellent pitching effort from freshman Maddie Craver, who gave up 3 runs on 7 singles while striking out 2 with 3 walks.
"We made some costly baserunning mistakes," said Palatine coach Nicole Pauly. "I like the way we battled back to tie the score in the seventh. I wish we would use more of that energy to begin the game instead of waiting until the last inning. Maddie was good in the pitchers circle and is getting better every game as a freshman. We want to learn every game and can take some positives from this game."
Walsh and Howell collected 2 hits each for the Pirates.