Cary-Grove survives Grant again
A little experience and a lot of speed went a long way for the Cary-Grove softball team Friday.
Sophomore Linsday Efflandt, with an Elite Eight appearance under her belt from a year ago, buckled down when her team needed her the most, and senior Alexis Haley provided the much-needed alertness and speed as the top-ranked Trojans survived Grant for a second straight year, beating the Bulldogs 2-1 in the championship game of the Class 4A McHenry regional. The regional title is the Trojans’ seventh in program history and third since 2007.
Cary-Grove (29-1) will take on Fox Valley Conference Valley Division rival Jacobs (21-11) next Thursday at 4:30 p.m. in the semifinals of the Rockford Guilford sectional. The Trojans beat Jacobs in last year’s sectional finals and own three wins over the Golden Eagles this season.
The Trojans’ runs Friday both came off one pitch in the bottom of the first inning. Speedy 1-2 hitters Eleni Polites and Haley each beat out infield singles, which were half of the Trojans’ hits for the day off Grant’s Rachel DePouw. But even though DePouw struck out the next two hitters, each runner moved up on a passed ball. Then, with Taylor Dunne at the plate, another passed ball allowed Polites to score the first run. Grant’s catcher tried flipping the ball to DePouw covering the plate on the play, but the ball got away and Haley instinctively scooted home to make it 2-0.
“With Eleni running in front of me I just had to be heads up and read it,” said Haley, who made a fine diving catch in center field as well. “I was able to read it right off the bat.”
“They’re both fast and they read defenses well,” said Cary-Grove coach Tammy Olson of her 1-2 hitters. “That was the difference in the game.”
And that’s all DePouw gave the Trojans. A Sarah Leudo single in the second and a bunt single from Polites in the third were the only other hits Cary-Grove would get off the Bulldog ace.
“She’s a good pitcher, no doubt about it, and we saw that againsty Prairie Ridge (Thursday),” said Olson. “She did a good job of keeping us off balance.”
As did Efflandt with Grant’s hitters. In running her record to 26-1 for the season, Efflandt allowed only singles from DePouw and Vanessa Valadez until the sixth inning when the Bulldogs (13-19), who lost to Cary-Grove 1-0 in eight innings in last year’s regional final, made a game of it.
With one out, Efflandt hit Molly Smith with a pitch. Hannah Graham sacrificed Smith to second and DePouw’s clean single up the middle scored Smith to make it a 2-1 game. A Cary-Grove error on Kelly Kucharski’s grounder moved courtesy runner Amber Smith to second with the potential tying run but Efflandt got the third out when Nikki Nazarro hit a head-high liner into the glove of second baseman Jamie Deering.
“Six inches higher and we have another run,” lamented Grant coach Mike Dolezal.
Efflandt then set the 7-8-9 hitters down in order in the top of the seventh to send Cary-Grove to the sectional.
“I got a little shaky and I just had to bring it back,” said Efflandt, who struck out 10 and walked 2. “My team helped me. They said some good things in the dugout that helped me get back in focus.”
Efflandt agreed her experience from last year helped as well.
“Last year all I had was travel ball experience,” she said. “It’s hard to explain how it’s different but it is. The experience helped and it’s the players who show the most heart who win it.”
Dolezal tipped his hat to the Trojans for the second straight year.
“Congrats to Cary-Grove, they beat us,” he said. “Efflandt pitched a great game again. But our girls played their hearts out and I’m proud of them. Rachel’s a great pitcher and this team really came together the last 3-4 weeks.”