Fremd comes up big (and small) against Buffalo Grove

The long and short of Fremd's 6-0 victory at Buffalo Grove on Monday is that the Vikings won a key Mid-Suburban softball crossover to remain 1 game out of first place in the West.

"Every game is a big one," said senior Julie Josten, who had a big offensive day by going 3-for-4 with 3 RBI, a home run and a double. "We know we have to play the we are capable of playing every game."

The long and short of the game both came in the fifth inning, literally.

A 3-foot bunt single in front of the plate by junior Alyssa Garcia and what looked like a 300-foot home run by classmate Julia Wacker added up to 2 runs and gave right-hander Nikki Kehoe a 4-0 lead.

The freshman hurler (8-1) coasted from there en route to her shutout against the Bison (14-5, 6-4), which entered the game tied for first in the MSL East.

Josten's 2-run homer to center with one in the top of the seventh scored Abby Iuorio (1-for-2) and capped the scoring.

"I thought Nikki (Kehoe) pitched a real nice game," said Fremd coach Jim Weaver whose team is 21-3 and 9-1 and trails only Schaumburg (19-1, 10-0) in the West. "And I thought we put some good at-bats together against (Julia) Camardo. She's a tough pitcher and we have a lot of respect for her."

The Vikings' offense showed what is has been doing all season, hitting long balls (23 homers) and playing small ball.

Never was it more evident than the fifth when Garcia and Wacker played their roles to perfect. Leadoff batter Garcia put down the perfect bunt and stole second. With two outs, cleanup hitter Wacker crushed a 1-2 offering some 40 feet over the fence and it continued to roll.

Freshman Jessica Mazur followed Wacker's homer by ripping a shot to center where she was robbed on a leaping catch by Caitlin Catino.

"It's a fun offense to coach," said Weaver, who watched Wacker and Josten hit their fourth homers of the season.

Weaver's offense manufactured runs in the first and second inning.

Garcia (2-for-4) also bunted safely to start the game, went to second on Iuorio's sacrifice bunt, and scored on Josten's long double to center field.

Shortstop Reagan Schneider (2-for-3) led off the second with a double to right center, advanced to third on Holly Straup's single to left and then alertly tagged up and scored on freshman catcher Lexi D'Ambrosio's fly ball to left for the 2-0 lead.

"This was a good team win," said Josten, the Vikes senior right fielder, who missed the cycle by a triple.

And it's a team that never stops playing.

Playing first base, Wacker just came up short of catching a pop foul as she made an all-out headfirst dive near the Vikes' dugout in the bottom of the seventh inning.

"Six-run lead, and Julia's diving," Weaver said. "That's how we want them playing and they have bought into it."

The offense almost bought itself another run in the sixth when Schneider led off with a double off the center field fence.

But Camardo (14-4) escaped by retiring the next three batters.

"Julia pitched well but they just sort of chipped away," said BG coach Jamie Paul. "We can play defense and Julia can pitch well but if you can't score runs, it doesn't matter.

"It was frustrating. We got some baserunners on but we couldn't come up with the big hits. You can't win scoring no runs. That's our biggest thing to work on. But we'll get back on it."

The Bison had their best chance in the first when Catino led off with a single to left. She advanced to third on a single to right by No. 3 hitter Emily Carnes.

But Kehoe got a strikeout and groundout Schneider to end the threat.

Carnes (2-for-3) led off the fourth with a base hit down the third baseline. She made it as far as second base on Nikki Longdon's two-out single to right before Kehoe escaped again with a pop out to Schneider.

The Bison got a runner on in the sixth on an error.

Bu the Vikes showed their defensive prowess.

D'Ambrosio fired a pickoff throw to Wacker, and the runner got caught in a rundown with Schneider making the putout. D'Ambrosio threw two more pickoff strikes in the inning to Wacker that just missed getting the runner.

Olivia Morini had BG's final hit in the bottom of the fifth with one out.

Kehoe then retired the final eight batters she faced and finished the game with 6 strikeouts.