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Softball: Craver collects 200th hit in Palatine's win

Palatine senior third baseman Maddie Craver collected her 200th career hit on Wednesday when the Pirates softball team topped host Conant 9-3 to set up a showdown for first place in the Mid-Suburban West.

Palatine (21-4, 13-1) hosts Barrington (24-2, 14-0) at 5 p.m. Thursday.

Sophomore Rhiann Dick (7-3) notched the win while Craver cemented her place in Palatine history by reaching base four times and scoring 3 runs.

"Hitting is my favorite part of the game," Craver said. "The momentum that my team creates with their hitting and their energy gets me excited to hit, and makes me want to get on base all the more."

"I knew Maddie was a special player when we brought her up to varsity as a freshman," said Pirates coach Nicole Capalbo. "To have 200 varsity hits in your career is a huge accomplishment. Maddie is arguably the best lead off hitter to wear the Palatine uniform. Not only is she a great softball player, she's a phenomenal athlete, teammate, and student."

Grace Huff (3-for-4, 3 RBI) hit her eighth homer of the spring.

"I was really excited to play today," Huff said. "My teammates were really supportive and they made me play my best. We strung the hits together and Rhi shut them down."

Emily Parrott (4-for-5, 2 RBI) belted her first career homer.

"We knew Conant was going to come out strong with the bats so we had to out-hit them, and we did," Parrott said. "We went up to the plate confident and hit it hard."

Dick finished with 7 strikeouts.

"Our team knew was another very important game," Dick said. "We had to win the game each inning at a time, and we accomplished just that. our offense came to hit today and our defense was here to play, which always helps me in reassuring my confidence in pitching. We are looking forward one game at a time, and can't wait to get the chance to play Barrington again."

That will be today on the Palatine diamond.

"This group of seniors has done an incredible job with building our program," said Palatine assistant coach Kristen Proffitt. "These milestones the last two days (Sarah Grossman recorded her 400th career strikeout on Tuesday at Fremd) are just a testament to their hard work throughout the years.

"They are great leaders and consistently show the rest of the team what it means to be a Palatine softball player. They will forever leave a mark on the team and the program."

Grace Seiffert also had a double for Palatine while Makenna McCarthy doubled for Conant (13-8, 9-5).

Hersey 9, Buffalo Grove 4: Hersey junior Sarah Bailitz went 4-for-4 and belted her ninth homer of the season along with a double for host Hersey (17-5, 10-4), which holds a half-game lead over Prospect (17-6, 9-4) in the MSL East.

Other multiple hitters for the Huskies were Makayla Tsagalis (2-for-4, double) and Brianna Luciano (3-for-4, double). Luciano earned the win after throwing the first six innings while Ria Patel worked the final inning.

Olivia Morini and Katelyn O'Rourke had doubles for Buffalo Grove (5-15, 3-11).

Schaumburg 13, Hoffman Estates 6: Talia Torosian went 3-for-5 with a home run for visiting Schaumburg (2-17, 2-11) in the MSL West. Tiffani Rudnick also homered for the Saxons while teammates Janalee Lyke (3-for-4) and Rachel Kissamis (2-for-4) were also multiple hitters. Caitlin Bertaud was the winning pitcher.

Mary Bean (2-for-3, 2 walks) and Jenny Camileiere each had doubles for Hoffman (4-15-1, 3-11).

St. Viator 11, Benet 5: St. Viator won its second game of the week over Benet as Gianna Saverino earned the East Suburban Catholic Conference win. The two teams waited out an hour-and-a-half weather delay.

Saverino retired 11 of the first 12 batters and kept the Lions in game until the bats got hot.

Gianna Saverino retired 11 of the first 12 batters and kept the Lions in game until the bats got hot.

The Lions were trailing 3-2 after 5 innings when they scored 9 runs in the last two innings. The big hit in the sixth inning was a 3-run double by Haley Robinson (4 hits, 3 RBI). She came home on Nicole Ardito's triple.

St. Viator (4-22, 2-10) added 4 more runs in seventh with Cece Kaiser (2 hits) belting a 2-run homer. ln addition to Robinson's hits, Maggie VanValkenburg, Cece Kaiser, Nicole Ardito, Annie Sweeney and Morgan Bielfeldt all had 2 hits.

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