Conant’s dozen does the job
It takes 12.
That’s been the season-long motto for the Conant softball team which includes 12 players.
The Cougars sure lived up to their slogan on Thursday.
No. 9 hitter Barb Linderman enjoyed her first 3-hit performance of the season, going 3-for-3 with a huge 2-run line drive single in the bottom of the fifth inning as Conant won the 39th annual Mid-Suburban League championship 5-3 over visiting Elk Grove.
The Cougars scored the same amount of runs when they won the MSL title at Elk Grove 5-1 last year.
The back-to-back crowns come after 36 years without a division title.
“Things got off to a rough start my freshman year,” said Cougars four-year ace Briana Cavin (26-2), who threw a 6-hitter with 6 strikeouts to her sister Miranda. “I wasn’t sure how it would play out the next three years.”
It played out literally perfect her senior year as the Cougars went 16-0 for the first time.
“To go back-to-back is some great history for these girls,” said Cougars coach Cathyann Smith, whose team improved to 29-2 after winning its 13th consecutive game. “It’s something our seven seniors can take away and remember forever.”
Briana Cavin is one of those seniors and she helped set the tone by throwing 4 hitless innings before pinch-hitter Andrea Starr belted a home run to left field with one out in the top of the fifth.
That came after the Cougars had built a 5-0 cushion for Cavin.
Senior shortstop Allie Bauch (2-for-4) singled to center with one out in the first, stole second and came home on Rachel O’Malley’s double to left for a 1-0 lead.
“Even when we were down 1-0, we felt like it could have been more,” said Grams about the Cougars leaving runners on base in the second and third innings. “But we knew there was still time and we had to keep pushing and believing, and we did.”
The Cougars’ big inning came in the fourth, started by back-to-back one out-singles by junior Sarah Thompson and sophomore Telly Hunter.
After Dani Goranson (20-7) struck out the next batter, Linderman came through with a two-out, two-strike single to left for a 3-1 advantage.
“It takes all of us,” said Linderman who also led off the bottom of the third with a double to left-center. “All my teammates were cheering me on. They knew what I was doing wrong and fixed it for me. My shoulder was dropping a lot and they helped me a lot with that in practice.”
Briana Cavin helped herself following Linderman’s big hit. She clubbed a 2-run homer — her sixth of the season — to left field for the 5-1 lead.
“That’s the beauty of the game,” said Elk Grove coach Ken Grams. “Two strikes, two outs and anything can happen (Linderman’s base hit).
“We knew there would be only a few opportunities and they jumped on theirs. We were that close to getting out of the inning and then it led to 4 runs.”
The Grens (25-8), though, kept battling.
In the top of the seventh, sophomore second baseman Becca Maher (2-for-3) singled and the left-handed power-hitting Goranson (2-for-4) belted her seventh homer of the season to the opposite field to cut the deficit to 5-3.
But Cavin got the final batter on a popout to second baseman O’Malley and Conant wrapped up its finest conference season in school history.
“We knew we had the insurance runs,” Briana Cavin said. “We looked at it like if they hit a home run, that was a good at-bat for them and then we would move on to the next batter.”
Briana didn’t realize she hadn’t given up a hit until Starr hit her second homer of the season.
“I don’t focus on strikeouts, hits, or things like that,” she said. “I just want to make sure we get the outs and focus on each batter.”
Briana has her sister to keep her on her toes.
“We’ve played together our entire lives,” Briana said. “She knows what I should do in certain situations.”
“Miranda called a fantastic game,” Smith said. “At most, I might call five to seven pitches a game. But it’s Miranda the rest of the game. Every once in a while I’ll have my say.”
Smith and assistant Kelly Wolff couldn’t say enough about the Cougars’ performance Thursday.
“These ladies played a fantastic game against an excellent team,” Smith said. “It’s something they’ve wanted from the start of the season, and they never lost stride going after it.”
After the game, Conant’s seven seniors — Bauch, Briana Cavin, Kim Jacobson, Linderman, Shannon O’Connor, Samantha Pincenti and Megan Reff — strode back into the school for an honors convocation.
They went in as the only two-time Mid-Suburban League softball champs in school history.