Softball: Palatine walks away with 10-0 shutout over Conant
Palatine's softball team walked off its home field on Thursday with an impressive 8-1 record.
And it was a walk-off single up the middle by senior Grace Seiffert that ended the Pirates' 10-0 win in six innings over visiting Conant in the Mid-Suburban West contest.
Like many of their rallies in the game, the Pirates' started the final one with two outs. Amanda Stanczuk reached on error and Chase Friel came in to pinch run. Rhiann Dick singled to right field to move Friel to third.
Seiffert then delivered the game-ending hit which gave senior pitcher Sarah Grossman her sixth win without a loss.
"The whole team hit really well almost every inning," Seiffert said. "We continued to hit with two outs throughout the whole game. I was just trying to hit the ball hard to score my teammate who was on third so we could win the game."
The Pirates moved to 3-0 in the MSL West while Conant now stands at 5-3 and 3-1.
Grossman threw a 2-hitter as she struck out nine; she has 78 strikeouts this season.
"I just threw every pitch as best I could and tried to hit my spots and let my defense work behind me," Grossman said. "Not letting the weather (cold) affect us has helped our team win. We didn't let the days off get in our heads and we continued to work when we were off the field."
"Sarah did a great job hitting her spots today," said Palatine assistant coach Kristen Proffitt. "We know we can trust her to move the ball around and keep hitters off balance. She is doing a very good job this year and has gotten us off to a great start."
Northwestern recruit Grace Huff helped ignite the Pirates' offense by belting her third homer of the season and a double. She went 2-for-3 with 2 RBI, 2 runs and a walk.
"I felt really good today and it was a beautiful day to play," Huff said. "With my team backing me up, I was able to hit the ball well. I knew Brittany (Padden) had the power to drive us in and I had a lot of confidence in her when they intentionally walked me."
Padden went 2-for-3 with 2 RBI and a run while Maddie Craver was 2-for-4 with 2 doubles, 3 RBI and 2 runs. Stanczuk finished 2-for-4 with 2 RBI. Grossman also had a double.
Elk Grove 17, Rolling Meadows 1 (5 inn.): Sophomore Lauren Clausen (1-1) threw a 5-hitter with 7 strikeouts as the visiting Grenadiers improved to 3-5 and 1-2 in the MSL East.
Leading Elk Grove's 19-hit attack was freshman A.J. Trausch, who belted 2 home runs while going 4-for-4. Other multiple hitters for EG were sophomore Katia Pendowski (4-for-4, triple), freshman Morgan Leach (3-for-4, double) and Clausen, who went 2-for-3 with a pair of doubles.
The run for Rolling Meadows (3-5, 1-2) came when Stephanie Thompson (2-for-3) led off the bottom of the first inning with her first career homer. Teammate Caroline Slowik was 1-for-2 with a diving catch in the outfield.