Softball: Palatine pulls out another over Fremd

Tuesday's encore between the Palatine and Fremd softball teams proved to be just as good theater as was Monday's opening performance.

One day after Palatine won 3-2 on Grace Huff's walk-off single, the Pirates escaped 10-9 after holding an 8-1 lead after 2½ innings in the key Mid-Suburban West game that kept the visiting Pirates (20-4, 12-1) a game behind Barrington (23-2, 13-0) with three to play.

Senior Sarah Grossman started the game and notched her 400th career strikeout in the third inning.

Sophomore Rhiann Dick entered with two outs in bottom of the fourth inning and got the win, striking out six in 3⅓ innings and giving up 1 earned run and 2 hits.

"Sarah set the table and Rhiann came in and finished the job," said Palatine coach Nicole Capalbo. "They are really a good duo to have. I think they complement each other so well. And our offense came out and hit today."

The Pirates really hit in the 6-run top of the third when they collected 7 hits, including a 2-run single to center by Kaitlyn Reed (2-for-4) and RBI singles by Brittany Padden (3-for-4, 3 RBI) and Amanda Stanczuk.

"We capitalized on errors but we also we scored a lot of runs on hits, too. "Capalbo added. "We do need to learn how to keep a lead and shut the door."

The Vikings (15-8, 7-6) charged back to tie the game with 2 runs in the bottom of the third (on a 2-run single to left by Lexi D'Ambrosio) and 5 more in the fourth, which was highlighted by Grace Stevens' first career grand slam. Her two-out blast to left center tied the game at 8-8. Hannah Ban also had a big RBI double to center in the inning.

Fremd senior Nikki Kehoe (7-3) took the mound for the final five innings, and like Dick, kept her team in the game the rest of the way.

The Pirates didn't score again until the top of the sixth when Maddie Craver led off with a walk and went to second on a sacrifice bunt by Emily Parrott (3-for-4).

Huff's double off the left center field fence drove in Craver and Stanczuk's RBI groundout brought home Huff to make it 10-9 with two outs.

Dick then struck out the next four batters to give Palatine the two-day sweep of its crosstown rival.

"I was just focusing on every pitch and every batter," said Dick (6-3), who was also 2-for-4 at the plate. "And my team sets me up well to pitch well. When the defense is playing well (no errors), you can get the outs. Sarah was throwing real well in the beginning and our catcher (Anna Selleck) is one of the main reasons our momentum shifted.

"This was a huge win for us. Sarah and I are ready to go out and do what we have to do. Our team has a lot of momentum and energy and we are ready to keep going one game at a time."

The game featured two outstanding diving catches.

Fremd right fielder Hannah Ban made an all-out dive down the right field line to rob Craver of extra bases.

Also, Vikings left fielder Gianna Arnieri threw a runner out at the plate with D'Ambrosio making the tag for the second straight day.

On the Palatine side, shortstop Parrott raced behind the third base coaching box to snare a lazy pop foul.

Pirates second baseman Grace Seiffert came up with a gem for first out of the fifth inning. The senior raced toward the right field foul line and dived straight forward to come up with the popup that robbed Arnieri.

"It's wonderful knowing you get to play defense behind two phenomenal pitchers," said Seiffert, who went 2-for-3 at the plate with a sacrifice bunt. "It's easy to have confidence in the field when you have that duo on the mound."

Leading the Fremd offense were Ban (3-for-4) and D'Ambrosio (2-for-3, 2 RBI). Mazur's homer was her only official at-bat as she was walked hit by a pitch and intentionally walked in her first three trips to the plate.

Fremd coach Josh Teschner shooks things up a bit in his batting order Tuesday.

"We changed it more than anything to see things differently," he said. "Sarah Grossman is a great pitcher and we hoped the change would give some of our other girls a longer time to see her and adjust. It worked out pretty well.

"I'm proud of the adjustment. Then they brought in Rhiann. We'll call her a 'change of pace' pitcher who can throw the corners.

"But you've got to put the ball in play."

The Vikings are scheduled to host Barrington today.

"We knew this would be a grinder of a week," Teschner added. "But the story doesn't change. At some point and time we have to start taking the game into our own hands and stop allowing other teams dictate what we do. Until that happens, our frustrations may grow and the important thing is we learn from it and move on to the next game."