Softball: Bihun, Neuman power Conant past Bartlett
Conant's Morgan Bihun and Sara Neuman delivered a 1-2 punch to knock host Bartlett out of the playoffs on Saturday. The Cougars captured their second straight Class 4A regional title with a 6-0 win at Bartlett.
Bihun landed the big blows on offense going 3-for-3 with a home run and 5 RBI. Meanwhile Neuman kept the Hawks at bay from the circle, scattering 4 hits in a complete-game shutout. She struck out 5 batters and walked just 2.
The second-seeded Cougars (25-5) advance to play St. Charles East in the Schaumburg sectional on Wednesday.
"All year we have been taking it just one inning and one game at a time and that has worked pretty well for us," Conant coach Cathy Ann Smith said. "We have a great group of kids that love to play softball. They stay loose but still play aggressive. The approach today was to come out swinging and strike first."
The Cougars did just that with a pair of homers in the first inning. Lauren Grzelak led off with a solo homer and Bihun later followed with a 2-run homer.
"All I wanted to do was make good contact," Bihun said. "I was swinging hard at the first good pitch I saw. I'm not even sure what the pitch was on the home run, but I know I liked it."
Bihun, who now has 11 home runs this season, added an RBI single in the third inning and a 2-run double in the fifth.
Neuman had around a dozen relatives fly in from Minnesota unexpectedly to see her pitch.
"They came in early for my graduation party tomorrow," Neuman said. "It was a really nice surprise. I didn't even know they were here until after the game. It was great to see them and I'm glad we won.'
Neuman (21-1) was also the winning pitcher earlier this season when the Cougars beat Bartlett in a 12-6 slugfest at the Marengo tournament. She had a little different approach this time around.
"I remembered from the last time they were hitting my fastball pretty good, so I went with a lot more off-speed stuff today," Neuman said. "I was just trying to keep them off balance. Knowing the next game from here on can be my last game certainly gives me an extra push."
The Hawks (23-14) had a couple scoring opportunities early on, but left a pair of runners stranded in both the first and third inning. Danielle Kirby took the loss for the Hawks.
"That first inning kind of set the tone," Bartlett coach Jim Wolfsmith said. 'We let an opportunity get away and they put up three runs. Their pitcher did a good job of keeping us off balance with her changeup. It was a good softball game between two good teams, and unfortunately we came up on the short end. It was still a great season for us. I couldn't have asked for a better group of players. This team had the best team chemistry I have had in my 25 years of coaching."