Mason's power surge carries Grant

A consistent contact hitter with some speedy wheels, Matt Mason makes for the perfect lead-off man.

But on Monday afternoon, Mason took on a different role, an unlikely one.

He became the big home run hitter.

The junior shortstop crushed a pitch over the left field fence in the third inning to get his first home run of the season. It drove in 2 runs and was all the offense Grant needed in a 2-1 victory over visiting Crystal Lake Central in the opening round of the Class 4A state tournament.

No. 4 Grant, which improves to 25-11 on the season, will face top-seeded and host Prairie Ridge in the regional semifinals on Wednesday.

"My job is to get on base. My job isn't to hit home runs," said Mason, who was 2-for-2 on the day with a walk. "But I'll take it if it comes."

Home run trots haven't come often for Mason. He's been on the varsity since his sophomore year, and not only was this his first home run of the season, it was the first of his varsity career.

"That might have been (Mason's) first home run in 10 years," Grant coach Dave Behm said with a laugh. "He's a good hitter, but not really a home run hitter, so this is good to see.

"Matt has gotten bigger and stronger since his sophomore year and he got a pitch up and the wind helped him a little bit. He hit it well."

Mason's home run couldn't have come at a better time.

Crystal Lake Central had just scored in the top of the third inning when Logan Mensching smacked a double into right field that brought in Blake Gleason, who had singled in the previous at-bat.

"It was a fastball low and I just stayed down on it and drove it," Mensching said. "We tried to keep the energy up, but there was a big momentum shift right after (the RBI-double)."

Mason's home run in the bottom of the inning meant that Grant starter Andrew Stone (7-3) didn't need to think about Crystal Lake Central's run for too long.

"That was great. I owe (Mason) dinner or something," Stone said with a smile. "That got us going. It helped our defense out, it helped me out. I was out there thinking, 'Well, now I have a lead to work with.' I was ready to go."

Stone seemed to get tougher as the game progressed.

After giving up 2 hits in the third inning, he gave up only one more the rest of the way and didn't allow more than 3 batters in each of the final four innings. The one hit he did give up, a single to Luke Teuyaw (2-for-3) in the sixth inning, didn't do any damage. Grant catcher Nick Heidenthal mowed Teuyaw down in a steal attempt.

Stone also had an inning of nothing but strikeouts, in the fourth. He finished with 6 strikeouts on the game.

"Andrew pitched great," Behm said of Stone. "Central has some pretty good hitters in their lineup and to limit them to 1 run and just a few hits, he did great. He got better as the game went on. He's been our guy all year and he did a great job today."