Softball: Huff, Palatine advance
Junior Grace Huff, who didn't have a home run in the first two years on the Palatine varsity softball team, recently hit double digits in the category for her junior season.
Her 11th long ball on Wednesday not only put the Pirates into double digits on the scoreboard, it also served a walk-off as No. 2 seeded Palatine blanked No. 15 Buffalo Grove 10-0 in six innings.
The Pirates (25-5) advanced to the championship of their own Class 4A regional on Saturday at 11 a.m. against the winner of Thursday's 4:30 p.m. semifinal between No. 7 Grayslake North and No. 10 Zion-Benton.
Leading 8-0 going into the bottom of the sixth, Kaitlyn Reed led off with a bunt single.
After Bison senior center fielder Olivia Morini made catches in center field for the next two outs, Huff stepped into the batter's box already having 2 hits and 3 RBI in the game.
The Northwestern recruit made it 3 hits with a liner over the left-center field fence.
It wrapped up a 2-hitter for Pirates ace Sarah Grossman (19-2), who struck out eight in the abbreviated game.
"I spent every day in the wight room, working in strength getting my swing down," said Huff, a lefty slapper the last two years. "It's a good feeling."
It was also a good feeling for Palatine to play a game.
"It had been five days since we had a game," Huff said. "So were really ready to go."
"Coming back from a five-day layoff can be scary," said Pirates coach Nicole Capalbo. "But we are playing good softball at this time of the season - it's fun to watch."
The Pirates' offense had some fun, collecting 9 hits, led by Huff, who finished 3-for-4 with 5 RBI.
Catcher Anna Selleck was 2-for-3 while Maddie Craver, Emily Parrott, Amanda Stanczuk, Grace Seiffert and Reed each had 1 hit.
The Pirates took the lead in the second inning, scoring five times after two were out.
Craver had a 2-run double down the right field line, Huff belted a 2-run single to center and Reed raced home on a wild pitch.
Huff's 11 homers were not a total surprise.
"Grace put in a lot of hard work in off-season with developing her hitting and lifting," Capalbo said. "She put a lot of hard work in the weight room and it shows."
Grossman continued to show why she is one of the top pitchers in the area. The right-hander increased her strikeouts total to 225 for the season and more than 430 for her career."
"Sarah did a real good job hitting her spots and the defense did a good job behind her," Capalbo said. "It was the fifth or sixth straight game where we did not commit an error."
Sparking the defense was Craver, who made 3 putouts and had 3 assists at third base.
Highlighting the Bison defense was shortstop's Jackie Bickhaus' diving catch to her right to take away a hit from Brittany Padden in the fourth inning and some fine work from second baseman Megan Fontanetta, who collected 3 assists, including one throw to the plate where catcher Lauren Beiersdorf made the force with the bases loaded.
Morini had both hits for Buffalo Grove (8-17), a double over the left fielder's head in the fourth inning and an infield single in the sixth.
"I was really happy how she got a good part of the bat on that ball (double) and gave it a good ride," said Bison coach Starr Dorsey. "Olivia struggled a little offensively this season but I'm really proud of how she settled in, battled hard and worked very hard."
The Bison return a lot of underclassmen.
"I told the kids we didn't play great tonight but we finished the month of May a lot better than we played in the month of April," Dorsey added. "The girls battled their butts off. Palatine is a great team. I expect them to make a run for things. We just had a tough draw and didn't come out playing our best, and Palatine did. You've got to give that to them.
"We were definitely a junior-loaded team this season and had some good freshmen and sophomores. So I'm happy they all got a lot of good playing time and we'll expect big things from them next season and upcoming ones."