Softball: Hiller's career-best 16 Ks carry Fremd past Prospect
As part of Fremd softball's 'Pave the Way' day, Grace Hiller wore the name Princess Diana on the back of her jersey.
By game's end, the senior right-hander joined Fremd pitching royalty.
Hiller's career-high 16 strikeouts in a 9-0 shutout over visiting Prospect on Tuesday put her in second place for the school record of most strikeouts in a game set (18) by former Daily Herald Northwest suburbs All-Area captain Lena Brottman in 2009.
The Vikings each had influential women on their backs to celebrate the 'Pave the Way' charity event.
"I had known about Princess Diana for a while and the night before the game I did more research on her," said Hiller about choosing an inspirational international figure.
Hiller also did her research on Prospect's batting order, limiting the talented Knights' offense to 2 hits in an on-and-off drizzle during the game.
"Honestly, I hate pitching in the rain but it wasn't that bad," she said "It was refreshing."
Hiller struck out the side in the first, third and sixth innings.
"We knew Prospect has some incredibly hot bats and they are a very well-coached team," said Fremd coach Josh Teschner. "Grace is undeniably one of the best pitchers in the state and in our conference. Today was just another day where she executed her spots start to finish and only got stronger. She is one of those players who wants to be in every big moment and she excels in every one."
"(Hiller) did a really good job keeping us off balance and getting ahead in the count," said Prospect coach Krystina Mackowiak. "I think that's what sunk us. We got down early in the count and then we were at her mercy. We're a very good hitting team so if we don't get those hits it's a whole different game. Kudos to her. She completely took us out of our game."
Prospect's 2 hits were a two-out single to center by starting pitcher Riley Depa in the second and a one-out single to center by Georgianna Crudele in the fifth. The Knights (12-8, 6-4 Mid-Suburban East) pulled off a nifty 5-4-3 double play to end the fifth (Kathryn Keehn to Carley Jagiello to Depa). Shortstop Erin Pinter robbed Madison Johnson of a hit with an eye-popping diving catch of a liner to end the third inning.
Top hitters for Fremd (16-7, 9-1 MSL West) were Abby Cabrales (3-for-3, double, 4 RBI) and Chiara D'Antonio (2-for-3, double, RBI). Elaina Kraus and Cali DiVito also doubled for the Vikes while Kalyn McCarthy went over 30 stolen bases for the season while scoring 2 runs.
"You don't win a game unless your team is hitting," said the modest Hiller, who plans to study kinesiology at the University of Iowa. "My team came out and kept putting up runs the whole game."
And it provided great theater for the young Fremd feeder fans on hand for 'Pave The Way'.
"It's a program that coach (assistant Russ) Anderson and I started a few years ago," Teschner said. "Coach Anderson approached me with some information about how the USA Soccer team did it years ago and we've kind of taken it and grown upon it. The girls have eaten it up and they know the most important thing is that we want them to feel empowered. We get our younger programs involved so they can see our expectations. And when a pitcher throws like she did today and the offense executes like it did, that's fun. And that's a good thing for them to see."