Double-duty Cavin powers Conant sweep
Briana Cavin had quite a day for Conant’s softball team as the Cougars swept a doubleheader 7-0 and 5-0 at Wheaton North on Tuesday.
The Wisconsin-Green Bay bound senior (5-1) pitched every inning, including a no-hitter with 13 strikeouts in Game 1 and a 3-hitter with 10 strikeouts in Game 2.
And Cavin’s work wasn’t only the mound.
Cavin belted a double in Game 1 and two more in Game 2, when she was 2-for-3.
The Cougars (5-1) made only 1 error all day.
“Our defense was solid,” said Cougars coach CathyAnn Smith, whose team improved to 5-1.
Conant put 5 runs on the board for a 5-0 lead in the second inning of the opener.
Kim Jacobson belted her second homer of the season in the contest while other top hitters for the Cougars were Allie Bauch (2-for-4, double, 2 RBI), Elisa Ambrose (2-for-4, RBI), Sarah Thompson (2-for-4) and Meg Reff (3-for-4, double, RBI).
In Game 2, the Cougars scored once in the third, fifth and sixth innings before getting a pair of runs in the seventh on RBI singles by Sarah Thompson (2-for-2) and Kim Jacobson (2-for-3, walk) following a two-out single by Miranda Cavin.
Bauch and Briana Cavin each went 2-for-3 while sophomore Rachel O’Malley belted a solo home run in the sixth inning.
Maine West sweeps Buffalo Grove: Juniors Ariel Smolik-Valles (4-1) and Tara Nykiel (1-2) each threw shutouts as West won 4-0 and 6-0 at Buffalo Grove.
Smolik-Valles struck out 11 and walked only one while tossing a 4-hitter in the opener. She and teammate Abbey Herling (double) each went 2-for-3 with an RBI.
Senior Jessie Lazzara doubled for BG and Bison junior pitcher MeganFu had 1 strikeout.
Nykiel posted her first win of the season in Game 2 with 8 strikeouts while also tossing a 4-hitter.
Freshman Julia Camardo struck out five for BG and walked only one.
Junior Renee Pond (3-for-4, 4 RBI, 1 run) led the Maine West offense and teammate Caroline Baird had an RBI single.
Kristina Dakas, Amanda Salzman, Lazzara and Erin Barton had the hits for BG (1-5).
“It was a very nice day for us,” said Warriors first-year coach Amy Gonzales. “Ariel is doing a very nice job on the mound and she is hitting well, too. It was a good team effort and our defense really picked things up.”
The Warriors committed only 1 error in the two games.
West escaped a bases-loaded jam with no outs in the sixth inning of Game 2.
The first out came when Nykiel fielded a grounder and threw to catcher Gina Larucci for the first out.
Then third baseman Brie Montmarquette fielded a grounder and threw home for the force.
The third out came on a groundout to second baseman Angela Cruz, who threw to first baseman Hanna Udishchas.