Kehoe powers Fremd's victory
Fremd freshman pitcher Nikki Kehoe, who was perfect through 3⅔ innings and had a no-hitter though 4, ended up with a 1-hitter as the No. 3-seeded Vikings blanked No. 14 Glenbard East 10-0 in five innings in Wednesday's Fremd softball regional semifinal.
The Vikings (27-6) advanced to Saturday's 1 p.m. championship against the winner of Thursday's semifinal between No. 6 Elk Grove and No. 10 South Elgin.
Kehoe finished 8 strikeouts to raise her record to 12-3.
Junior Alyssa Garcia went 2-for-3 for the Vikings while Addison Stremel had a double and Reagan Schneider a single.
Conant 10, Hoffman Estates 1: Conant (22-7) recorded some clutch hitting for the top and bottom of the batting order in the semifinal of its own regional.
No. 1 and 2 hitters Lauren Grzelak (2-for-5, 2 runs) and Elisa Ambrose (3-for-3, 3 runs) were a combined 5-for-8 while No. 9 hitter Kim Zaucha was 3-for-4. Another multiple hitter for Conant was Alissa Wachal (2-for-2).
Sophomore Sam Gadomski (11-1) gave up 2 hits in the first three innings to record the win while Sara Neuman allowed 1 hit in the final four innings.
Conant will play the winner of Thursday's semifinal between No. 13 Addison Trail and No. 4 St. Charles East in Saturday's 3 p.m. championship.
Hailey Rothstein (2 RBI) and Dream Aaron (home run) also had hits for the Cougars, who received a double from Wachal.
Giselle Velasquez, Mary Bean and Jordyn Fera had the hits for Hoffman (12-18).
Zion-Benton 11, Prospect 1 (5 inn.): Playing in its own regional semifinal, No. 4-seed Zion Benton scored 3 runs in the bottom of the first and never looked back.
Down 3-0, the No. 13 Knights (12-18) answered in the top of the second inning when Delilah Malczewski walked and Colleen Palczynski singled. Courtesy runner Dezi Orozco scored on Jackie Orel's single.
But Zion did not allow another run.
"This was definitely not the way we wanted to end the season," said Knights coach Jim Adair. "I knew Zion had some great hitters, but there were a lot of defensive plays that don't necessarily count as errors that we should have made. You can never let a team keep hitting and we paid the price for that. Zion just pounded the ball."
Adair said he was "very proud" of his seniors.
"I'm sorry to see them leave," he said. "Some of them never missed a single thing we did in four years. They will be missed but we've got a lot of young players coming back so I'm optimistic for 2016."
Addison Trail 5, Rolling Meadows 4: Paige Connor (2-for-3) and Elianna Psarros (2-for-4) were multiple hitters for the No. 20-seeded Mustangs against No. 13 Addison Trail in the Conant regional play-in game.
Megan King, Mallory King, Elizabeth Elkins, Amanda Elkins and Jordan Giachetti also had hits for Meadows (2-26) which scored all 3 of its runs in the third inning. Mustangs pitcher Lauren Hattory struck out four.