Conant's great, edges Lake Zurich in eight
Eight innings yielded win No. 8 in eight games.
Crazy.
"My heart was going like a million miles an hour in left field," Conant's Lauren Ambrose said of Lake Zurich's two-out rally in the bottom of the seventh that forced extra innings. "I was really nervous, but Bri's an outstanding pitcher and she pulled through."
Sophomore Briana Cavin delivered with both her pitching arm and bat, as Conant remained undefeated by outlasting the host Bears 4-2 Wednesday. It was Cavin's two-out, 2-run double into left-center field off Bears ace Megan Mattera that gave the Cougars the deciding runs in the eighth.
Throwing to her freshman sister Miranda, Cavin fired all 8 innings, striking out nine while issuing 5 hits and 5 walks. She stranded two runners on base to end the thriller.
At the plate, big sister was 2-for-5, while little sister went 1-for-4.
"Bri and Miranda know each other and they work well together," Conant coach CathyAnn Smith said. "Those are the two most competitive kids I've ever seen as a freshman and sophomore."
While Conant (8-0) won for the seventh time on the road, Lake Zurich (2-4) lost its third game in two days. The Bears were coming off a pair of losses in an indoor tournament played in LaGrange the day before.
"We had a long talk (Tuesday) about being intense and being gamers, and wanting that pressure," Lake Zurich coach Michaela Towne said. "I was very proud of them coming back from two outs and nobody on (in the seventh) and tying up the game, and then getting people on base again (in the eighth)."
Conant was one out away from winning 2-1, but Lake Zurich leadoff hitter Amanda Orchard (2-for-3, walk) hit her second triple of the game and then scored, just as she did in the first inning, on a slap hit by Paige Goldberg (2-for-4). This time Goldberg beat out a dribbler that rolled about 15 feet down the third-base line.
Undaunted, Conant went back to work in its half of the eighth. With two out and her cousin Vicki McGuire on first base with a walk, Ambrose (2-for-3) singled sharply into right field.
Briana Cavin then ripped her double into the gap to give herself and her teammates a two-run cushion.
"We kind of all pulled together," said Ambrose, who took a Mattera fastball off her left forearm with the bases loaded in the sixth to give Conant its first lead.
"We didn't give up."
Lake Zurich threated in its half of the eighth, getting its first two hitters on base thanks to Mattera's leadoff walk and an infield error. But Briana Cavin sandwiched a pair of groundballs between a popup to end a dramatic game that lasted more than two hours.
Allie Bauch led Conant's 11-hit attack by going 3-for-5.
"We knew that Lake Zurich was going to be tough," Smith said. "They're an outstanding program. We told the girls, 'Seven-0 doesn't matter. It's a new season starting today. You're going to see some different caliber.' And they really pulled through."