Softball: Fremd has winning combo against Conant
During the off-season, Fremd senior Kylie Hess was always there when sophomore teammate Jessica Mazur wanted to work on her pitching.
Hess would toss on the glove and let her younger Fremd teammate fire away.
On Tuesday, Hess was there with her bat for Mazur who tossed a 4-hitter and defeated Mid-Suburban League West champion Conant 2-1 in Palatine.
It was Fremd's second 2-1 West triumph in as many days, after the Vikes defeated Barrington on Monday by the same score. And it gave Fremd (22-4) a 13-2 mark in the West, which was clinched by Conant (22-5, 15-1) on Monday.
Just like a day earlier, all of Fremd's runs came in the bottom of the first inning.
After the Vikings loaded the bases with no outs, Conant senior ace Sara Neuman (18-1) struck out the next two batters and Hess stepped into the batter's box.
"Just trying to make contact," said the senior right fielder. "I like those pressure situations.
"I knew with Abby (Iuorio) on third base that if I could get the ball in play, she's so fast she could score, and having Alyssa (Garcia, another speedster) on second base was a bonus."
Sure enough, Hess made her contact with an infield grounder which resulted in an error and allowed both Iuorio (1-for-3) and Garcia (1-for-3) to cross the plate.
"I was so happy for Jess (Mazur)," Hess said. "I caught for her during the off-season and I know how hard she works.
"She'd (Hess) come out at any time I asked," Mazur said. "She's great about it. I just came out confident for this game and knew my team would back me up."
Mazur improved to 8-1 and struck out four. She got solid defensive play, including strong work from shortstop Reagan Schneider and back-to-back assists by second baseman Becca Uhrich in the top of the fifth inning. First baseman Julia Wacker (1-for-2, walk) was her usual steady self at first base.
The Cougars had two runners on base in the sixth with one out but Wacker made back-to-back unassisted putouts to end the threat.
In the seventh, the Cougars got on the board with two outs.
Catcher Dream Aaron led off with an infield hit and pinch runner Ally Lira scored when pinch hitter Carly Rossdeutcher reached on an error.
But Mazur got the final out on a grounder to Wacker.
"She (Mazur) pitched great," said Vikings coach Jim Weaver, who notched career win No. 392. "She's getting better and better."
The Fremd seniors couldn't have asked for a better way to go out on their home field.
"I knew the kids would be excited about playing their final home game," Weaver said. "It was important for the seniors to come out and play well so I am happy for them."
Hess, one of those six seniors, also walked and was robbed of another pitch when Aaron made a terrific diving stretch for to catch her pop foul near the backstop in the sixth inning.
But her first at-bat proved to be the game-winner.
"We were just trying to put pressure on their defense," Weaver said. "And Kylie did a great job at that."
Neuman had a great run of 18 straight wins this season and it took 2 unearned runs to edge the Saint Leo University recruit, who allowed only 3 hits and struck out three.
"Sara went out and did her job," said Conant coach Cathyann Smith. "We knew we had to come out strong and unfortunately, we came out flat.
"That first inning set us back. Fremd had energy and was playing with an agenda."
Grzelak was 2-for-3 for the Cougars while teammates Aaron and Sam Gadomski had the other hits.
"We've just got to pick it up again and learn from this because these are the type of teams we are going to see Thursday and in the postseason," said Smith, whose team will host Elk Grove in Thursday's Mid-Suburban League championship game.