Conant again stops St. Charles East

For the third consecutive year, the St. Charles East and Conant softball teams squared off in the Class 4A playoffs, this time with a trip to the sectional semifinals on the line.

And after losing 13-0 to Conant in the sectional semifinals last year, the No. 4-seeded Saints were hoping to get even on Monday when the two teams clashed in the regional finals in Hoffman Estates.

Instead, the Saints got a healthy dose of Cougars pitcher Sara Neuman (7IP, 2 hits, 5 strikeouts), who held St. Charles' bats at bay all afternoon in guiding the home team to a 4-1 victory.

"I was somewhat familiar with East coming in and knew they had some pretty good hitters I had to get around," said Neuman. "I knew I had to come out strong today and that the defense had my back, and was able to pull it off."

The No. 5-seeded Cougars (24-7) struck first in the top of the second when sophomore Morgan Bihun (2-for-2) roped a single to left with runners on first and second.

In an effort to keep the lead runner at third from scoring, an errant throw from the outfield sailed into East's dugout, missing the cutoff. That allowed 2 unearned runs to score and gave Conant a 2-0 lead.

"If we don't give them those 2 early runs, the game may have had a different tone," said East coach Kelly Horan. "And it came down to a game between two good teams … but today just wasn't our day."

St. Charles East rallied in the bottom half of its inning, scratching across an unearned run of its own to cut the lead to 2-1, but the Saints got no closer as Neuman retired 16 of the final 17 hitters she faced.

With Conant clinging to a 2-1 lead in the top of the seventh inning, sophomore second baseman Lauren Grzelak provided Neuman with some insurance as she roped a clutch 2-run double with two outs to put the Cougars ahead 4-1.

Neuman pitched a quick 1-2-3 seventh to slam the door on the Saints (29-6) and guide her team to the Rolling Meadows sectional semifinals. The Cougars meet top seed Schaumburg at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday in the first of two games at Rolling Meadows.

"Sara's got one of the biggest hearts I've ever had in all my years of coaching," said Conant coach Cathy Smith. "She pumps everybody up out there and is a total team player."