Flexibly, Fremd find its way past Elk Grove

Making adjustments can be essential to winning in any sport.

Fremd's softball team had to make them both on the field and at the plate on Wednesday.

The Vikings passed in both departments and came way with a 12-4 triumph over visiting Elk Grove in the Mid-Suburban League crossover contest in Palatine.

With his leadoff batter and outfielder Abby Iuorio sidelined with an ankle sprain suffered on Monday against Wheeling, Fremd coach Jim Weaver had three positions in the field (right field, third base and catcher) with new faces.

The restructured lineup saw somewhat of a rarity with the Vikings showcasing a freshman battery of Nikki Kehoe and catcher Lexi D'Ambrosio.

The defensive changes hardly fazed the Vikings, who did not make an error and got some sparkling outfield play by junior center fielder Alyssa Garcia.

"She made some great catches," said Grens coach Ken Grams. "She took away some big shots by Haley (Itzenthaler, the Grens No. 2 batter who hit the ball hard in all three of her at-bats)."

And the Vikings started getting their shots after adjusting following the first time through the order.

"It took one time around for everyone to get comfortable," Weaver said. "Without Abby, I was proud of the how the kids adjusted. The first time through were not the at-bats we were looking for. The second and third time they were excellent at-bats.

"It was good to see they were able to fix their approaches during the game, and not have to wait until the next."

Fremd (11-1, 2-0 in the MSL West) and Elk Grove (10-3, 1-1 in the MSL East) are two of the top home run hitting teams in the league, and the Grens showed their long ball power when they struck first on the scoreboard.

Brianna Leach led off the top of the fourth of the season with her fourth homer over the left field fence. Three batters later, Alex Masnica (2-for-3) clouted her third homer, a one-out, 2-run shot to left center.

Kehoe (5-0) got out of the inning with a fly out to Josten in right and great diving catch by first baseman Julia Wacker to rob Marjorie Sloan of a hit.

The Vikes cut into the Grens' 3-0 lead in the bottom of the inning when they loaded the bases on 3 walks after one out. Becca Uhrich (2-for-3, 5 RBI) then doubled to left center to cut the deficit to 3-2.

The Vikes carried that momentum to the fifth and sixth innings with they scored 5 runs in each.

"We just had to work on our at-bats," Josten said of the Vikings' rally. "We have a solid team and can fill in spots when we have to."

"We just have to pick ourselves up when we get down," Garcia said. "Midway through the game, we got back into it. We knew coming into the game that Elk Grove was a good hitting team so we had to do our best defensively."

Josten, Garcia and Straup (RBI) began the fifth with consecutive base hits. Wacker reached on error scoring another run. Kehoe and Katie Niersbach added RBI singles while Uhrich had a sacrifice fly.

Junior third baseman Sarah Pauscher (2-for-3) belted her eighth homer of the season with two outs in the top of the sixth to cut the deficit to 7-4.

In the bottom half, Josten started things when she was hit by a pitch. Garcia (2-for-3) followed with a single to center. Wacker's RBI double to left center brought in the first run. Jessica Mazur had an RBI single and Uhrich connected for a 2-run single. Another run came home when Kehoe (3 strikeouts) reached on a fielder's choice.

Fremd sophomore shortstop Reagan Schneider went 2-for-5 while hitting the ball well in all five of her plate appearances.

"They (Fremd) swing the bats well and can score runs," said Grams who used sophomore pitchers Sabra Morton (6-1) and Kylie Thomsen. "I thought we were hitting the ball pretty well, too, but then we had that one inning (fifth) where we kind of hit a wall. And we've got to learn to respond to that. Any time you give a team like Fremd extra swings, that's dangerous. We learned that."