Softball: Gritty Fremd finishes another come-from-behind victory

After Palatine wiped out Fremd's 5-0 lead, the Vikings could have been down and out.

Instead, the Vikings bounced back up.

Trailing 6-5 after six innings Monday, Fremd put together its second 5-run inning of the game and pulled out a 10-6 Mid-Suburban League West softball victory over its crosstown rival in the most pleasant afternoon to date for this conference season.

Sophomore Emily Parrott's 2-run triple that hit off the top of the left-center field fence and dropped back into fair play gave Palatine a 6-5 lead in the bottom of the sixth inning.

"We were frustrated," said Fremd junior right fielder Anna Frevelleti, a St. John's University recruit. "But we didn't let it get inside our heads. We knew we still had another inning to hit."

And did they ever.

Their 5 hits produced 5 runs, including Becca Uhrich's tying run when she crossed the plate on an RBI single by Anne Marie O'Sullivan (2-for-3) with just one out.

Freveletti then delivered the game-winning RBI when she lined a single to right allowing Lexi D'Ambrosio to race home for the 7-6 lead.

A bunt single by Grace Stevens loaded the bases with two outs when Hannah Ban (2-for-4) connected for a double to the left-center field fence to clear the bases and give Fremd its 10-6 cushion.

"It's been like that a lot this season," Freveletti added. "We'll be behind during the game and then we'll come back and win at the end."

"One of the things that is just hard to overlook about this team is just how gritty they are," said first-year coach Josh Teschner, whose Vikings improved to 10-4 and 5-2 in MSL West. "And how on every single at-bat, every single inning, every single game they are talking to one another and they are grinding out what it requires to get the job done. That is one of the most refreshing and exciting things about this team."

Teschner went with junior Nikki Kehoe as his starter and finished with her classmate Jess Mazur, who gave up 2 hits (both to Parrott) in the final 3 innings.

Mazur, who went 2-for-4 at the plate, improved her pitching record to 4-1.

"We feel we have three phenomenal pitchers (Kehoe, Mazur and Ban) who we can throw in at any situation," Teschner said. "So today we knew we were going to be in a double-barrel situation where we'd use two pitchers.

"Nikke had a bum knee from a collision with an umpire in our game last Saturday. But she talked about coming out and grinding it out the first three innings. She kept us in the game and put us in position where we could fight back and then Jess made her lockdown stint."

Fremd's 5-run third inning was highlighted by Mazur's 2-run double off a 3-2 pitch that drove in Reagan Schneider and Becca Uhrich. An RBI triple to right center by Freveletti made it 5-0.

Palatine (13-4, 4-2) started Sarah Grossman (6-3) and finished with freshman Rhiann Dick.

A sacrifice fly by Grace Seiffert in the fourth inning and RBI by Brooke Bauer, Brittany Padden and Anna Selleck in the fifth made it 5-4.

Parrott (3-for-4) then delivered her 2-run triple in the sixth that missed being a home run by inches.

But the Vikings answered the call in its final at-bat.

"We had 4 errors going into the top of the seventh" said Palatine coach Nicole Pauly. "We've got to learn how to get the last out of an inning and finish the game.

"Our offense didn't make adjustments until later in the game. And against Fremd, you have to play every single inning. You can't take an inning off."