Softball: Grant turns it up, tops Cary-Grove in 9
During the middle of the softball season, Jaylee Pfau's at-bats had gone the way of the "P" in her last name.
Silent.
The Grant freshman wasn't making much noise defensively, either. So Grant coach Chris Van Alstine sent her down to the JV team.
"It was to build my confidence back up," Pfau said. "I was struggling at the plate and in the field. My confidence was just really down."
No longer.
"It's great," a smiling Pfau (rhymes with 'wow') said of her confidence, which got another huge boost Wednesday.
Pfau hit an opposite-field single into right field with one out in the bottom of the ninth, and Liz Schram scored on an errant throw home, as second-seeded Grant edged No. 8 Cary-Grove 6-5 in a Class 4A regional semifinal at Prairie Ridge in Crystal Lake.
The victory advanced Grant (25-9) to Friday's 4:30 p.m. final against No. 7 McHenry (14-19). The Bulldogs are seeking their first regional championship since 1996.
Cary-Grove, which started three freshmen and two sophomores, finished 12-19. The Trojans' got 3-hit games from senior Alyssa Gurgone and sophomore Emma Hill, but the game ended on C-G's fourth error.
"I think we play a tougher schedule than most teams, so we took our lumps at the beginning of the season," Cary-Grove coach Tammy Olson said. "We learned a lot. We had a lot to learn. We have seven underclassmen, and they're good. They're definitely solid hitters. Defense will come along."
Pfau also doubled off the top of the fence in left field in the sixth against senior Rachel Stanley and scored. Her last hit came after Schram (3-for-4) led off by hooking a double into the left-field corner, before Sydney Goessele (2-for-5, complete-game win) flied out.
"I was just trying to get the ball in play," said Pfau, who was 2-for-3 with a pair of sacrifice bunts from the eighth spot in the order. "I didn't want to strike out, like my first at-bat. I knew, with a runner of second base, we needed someone (to get a hit)."
Pfau, who went on the varsity's Spring Break trip to Tennessee, spent about two weeks on the JV team to regain her confidence.
"Since she's come up the last two weeks, she's gotten on base 2-3 times a game batting in that 8-9 spot," Van Alstine said. "It's so awesome to watch her go through that. It was almost like a stint in the minors. She came back and she's just been doing unreal."
Grant took a 3-2 lead in the fifth, manufacturing the go-ahead run thanks to the baserunning of Calista Warmowski and Maddy Nourigat. Nourigat beat the throw home after Warmowski intentionally got into a rundown between first and second.
Hill (3-for-5, 2 RBI) homered to left leading off the C-G sixth, before Grant regained the lead when Megan Mitchell (2-for-5) slashed a 2-run single into right field in the bottom of the inning.
The advantage didn't last, however, as slap-hitting Nicollette Richardi (2-for-4) led off the Cary-Grove seventh by singling off the glove of third baseman Erin Bengston. Freshman Katy Wieczorek then homered over the 200-feet sign in center field, tying the score at 5-5.
It was the second homer of the season for the Trojans' 5-foot-2 leadoff hitter.
"I was kind of in a slump, so I choked up," Wieczorek said. "It was a good pitch and I was ready."
Stanley stranded the tying run at second base in the bottom of the seventh, forcing extra innings.
The 5-1 Bengston walked in the first and hit her 22nd homer of the season, a no-doubter to left field, with one out in the third to give Grant a 2-0 lead. After the Holy Cross commit grounded out hard to shortstop in her next at-bat, Cary-Grove didn't pitch her, walking her twice.
"I told the girls, 'We have to win this as a team,' " Van Alstine said. "That's exactly what we did. They did their job. They did exactly what we asked them to do. They got bunts down, weren't selfish, and we pulled it out."