Sudden power surge helps Conant jolt Fremd

Allie Bauch wasn’t exactly thrilled with how she’d been swinging the bat recently for Conant’s softball team.

On Tuesday at Fremd, she swung it as well as anyone.

Bauch belted her first homer of the season to lead off the top of the fourth inning and the next batter, Rachel O’Malley, crushed her sixth homer.

Those 2 runs stood up as senior ace Briana Cavin hurled a 6-hitter with 5 strikeouts in the Cougars’ 2-1 triumph in Palatine.

The victory clinched at least a tie for first in the Mid-Suburban West for Conant (25-2), which won the MSL crown a year ago.

The Cougars improved to 13-0 in the West, three games ahead of Fremd (23-6, 10-3) with three to go.

“I just had to steal her thunder,” joked O’Malley about her homer to left-center which proved to be the difference game.

“Those two home runs were big,” said Briana Cavin, who threw her 23rd victory of the season to her sister and catcher Miranda Cavin (1-for-3). “It was a good win. We knew they would want to avenge their loss to us (4-2) the first time so we knew this would be a tough game.”

Cougars head coach CathyAnn Smith and assistant Kelly Wolff had nothing but praise for the Vikings, who scored their run in the fifth inning on a one-out bases loaded sacrifice fly to left by Mandi Matsumoto that scored pinch runner Morgan Brauer.

Matsumoto also made the catch of the game in the top of the seventh when she robbed Barb Linderman near the right center field fence, saving 2 runs.

Sarah Thompson had doubled to left earlier in the inning and Telly Hunter drew a walk.

“Fremd is a good team but we held up pretty well in tough situations,” Wolff said. “This is a great group of girls and we believe in them.”

“It’s a great win,” Smith said. “Fremd is tough. They are quick and we knew we had to step up on defense.”

Bauch’s homer to right-center was the seventh of her varsity career.

“I was just ready to hit,” said the senior shortstop and three-sport standout. “I hadn’t been producing offensively the way I’d like recently so I really wanted to help my teammates and it felt good.”

“Allie was ready to go,” Smith said. “Her first home run of the season was a great one. I’m really pleased with the girls’ dedication of trying to go out and reach their goal of winning the conference again.”

Fremd’s Rachel Doering (12-4) battled right to the end against Conant’s Cavin (23-2).

A senior right-hander, Doering allowed only 4 hits and struck out four.

“I thought Rachel pitched well,” said Fremd coach Jim Weaver. “The pitch to O’Malley was great. The pitch to Bauch on a 2-0 count is one we’d like to have back.

“Our defense played real well. Mandi’s catch in the seventh inning was huge. I’m really happy with the way we played. It just wasn’t good enough to win. We’ve got to keep getting better.”

Matsumoto doubled to shallow left in the third inning with one out but Briana Cavin got out of the jam when she caught a line drive and threw to Bauch for a double play.

Fremd’s other major threat came in the fifth when it still had runners on second and third with two outs following Matsumoto’s RBI sacrifice fly.

But Briana Cavin struck out the next batter to end the threat.

Michelle Mazur, Brittany Ciura, Caitlin Patenaude, Kristie Salerno and Ashlynne Schwantz also had hits for the Vikes.

“We played good ball, we know what we need to do,” Weaver said. “Obviously, we need a lot of help to win conference now. But that’s not our main focus. Our main focus is getting ready for the postseason and I thought this game was a good step forward.”