Softball: Wingerter winds up for winning homer

Katie Wingerter called Tuesday's Mid-Suburban League softball opener against visiting Fremd the most fun she has had in her record-setting four-year varsity career for Hersey's softball team.

And why not?

With the game still in doubt, Wingerter blasted a no doubter which lifted the Huskies to one of their most significant triumphs in years.

Wingerter's towering home run well over the left-center field fence on a 0-2 pitch to lead off the bottom of the sixth inning proved to be the difference in Hersey's 3-2 victory.

It gave the Huskies a 6-1 record, easily their best start in coach Molly Freeman's 10 seasons.

It also happened to be Freeman's first win over Fremd (ranked No. 21 in Class 4A), where she starred as a softball player before playing for Illinois-Chicago.

Like her coach, Wingerter will also play at the Division I level having committed to Northern Illinois.

"I'm so happy this happened for our coach," Wingerter said. "She has meant a lot to me and it means a lot to me that we got to do this for her."

Wingerter, who has Hersey's all-time career mark for home runs with 30, did plenty with her glove, too.

She made had all 3 assists in the top of the fourth inning, two on diving stops of hard hit grounders."

"You should not let their best player beat you," said first-year Fremd coach Josh Teschner, whose team (4-1) lost for the first time. "She is phenomenal in the field and very, very good at the plate. I thought we had her where we wanted (at 0-2) but one pitch and they got the run to win the game."

"My teammates didn't care if it was two strikes or not," Wingerter said. "They called that (home run) for me. They said it was coming. I knew it was going right when I hit.

"Honestly, when I have two strikes, I know I have to grind through the at-bat. I coach kids a lot and I always talk to them about that."

Freeman was also talking about sophomore pitcher Brianna Luciano (4-1) after the game. The right-hander threw a 6-hitter with 6 strikeouts to edge Fremd junior Nikki Kehoe (6 hits, 5 strikeouts).

"Brianna was fantastic," Freeman said. "She's only a sophomore, so this was this was a big game for her to come in and go all seven innings against a great team. It was enormous.

"She held her composure really well and even when she was in tough situations she was able to work out of them. And I think that shows a sign of real maturity."

"Knowing that they were pitching wide, I did not like our approach because we did not adjust," Teschner said. "The irony of it is that we worked on that in practice (on Monday) so it's frustrating."

Hersey jumped ahead 1-0 in the bottom of the first. Remy Gerew doubled to right with two outs to score Wingerter (two-out single to left) from first base.

Fremd pulled ahead 2-1 in the third with a RBI groundout by Anne Marie O'Sullivan and a RBI single by Jess Mazur. Grace Stevens (walk) and Reagan Schneider (2-for-3) scored the runs.

Hersey tied the game in the fifth when Luciano led off with a double to center. She came home from there on Makayla Tsagalis' double to left.

In the top of the sixth, Hersey right fielder Jodie Hermann robbed Vikes catcher Lexi D'Ambrosio of extra base hits with a leaping grab of a line drive. Anna Freveletti followed with a triple to the right field corner.

But Luciano got the next two batters on a pop out to first baseman Maddie Flynn and a strikeout.

That set up the bottom of the sixth when Wingerter led off with her big swing.

"It was a fantastic at-bat," Freeman said. "She was seeing the ball well the whole game. As phenomenal as her offense is, her defense is just as outstanding."

The Huskies are off to an outstanding start.

"We'd be lucky if were ever .500 at this point," Freeman said. "This is fantastic. I have no words. It feels really good. I'm so proud of these girls. But I'm really happy for them. They deserve it."

Teschner has some young players still gaining experience.

"We've talked about making big plays when they count," he said. "Nikki threw a good game but she would probably say not her best. We came into the game 4-0 so it was a great way to start. But we said when you get to conference games, anything can happen on any given day."

And Wingerter happened to slug the biggest blast of her home-run filled career.