Softball: Lucas fires 1-hitter in Fremd’s win over Palatine
Fremd's softball team hosted its annual “Pave the Way” game on Wednesday where the Vikings wear shirts honoring powerful, inspiring and influential women who are paving the way for them in society.
Once again, it was the powerful right arm of Fremd's Hailey Lucas helping to pave the way in the circle with one of her best outings of the season.
The only hit the junior right-hander gave up was to the second batter of the game, Grace Adame.
Lucas then retired 17 in a row before Adame walked to lead off the seventh inning.
Lucas struck out the next three batters to wrap up a 1-hit, 15-strikeout performance for her sixth shutout of the season, 6-0, over visiting Palatine in the Mid-Suburban West contest played on a chilly, windy late Wednesday afternoon.
"Hailey (Lucas) is tough," said Palatine coach Nicole Capalbo, whose team is 9-5 and 4-1. "She is a great pitcher."
"I can't give enough roses to Hailey," said Fremd coach Josh Teschner , whose team moved to 9-2 and 5-0. "Another shutout. Her ERA is under .2 and she is at more than 100 strikeouts. She is a special player and the nice thing is that she feeds off her teammates."
The game was scoreless through three innings before the Vikings' offense made it look as easy as one, two, three. It scored 1 run in the fourth, 2 in the fifth and 3 in the sixth.
Josie Weber's RBI double to right field scored Avery Sadorf with one out in the fourth for the only run Lucas (9-2) would need.
Cleanup hitter and catcher Mia Souliotis clubbed a 2-out, 2-run double to center field in the fifth inning.
Finally, Leah Sheehan sparked the 3-run sixth when she belted her first homer of the season. Her 2-run blast went directly into the gusting wind over the left field fence.
"We had said before the game there's no way anyone is hitting the ball out toward left or left center," Teschner said. The fact that she still probably hit that 210 or 205 feet means she probably would have landed that ball where the fans were standing for a soccer game (behind the softball field) had there been no wind.
"Leah has just been spectacular in two of her last three games adjusting and attacking the ball when it's within her four zones that she can drive. It (home run swing) was very well done by her, and of course, it was in a big moment."
Fremd's final run was scored by leadoff batter Taylor Piento, who had doubled with two outs and came home on Amanda Poniecki's single to left center.
Piento finished 3-for-4 at the plate with 2 doubles and 2 runs.
"Holly (Steffus) is a great pitcher and it's always pretty hard to adjust to a pitcher like her, especially in a special game like this," Piento said. "I just wanted to keep passing the bat for my teammates because that is what is most important."
"Taylor, like most of our players, has been working really hard every single at-bat reflecting on what they've been doing, and trying to develop an approach depending on the pitcher and the inning," Teschner said. "And it's starting to pay dividends. She is just a phenomenal hitter. Of all our players, she is probably the most reflective of every pitch she sees and every at-bat she has, and you can see the results."
The final results for Palatine showed that Adame was the only Pirate to reach base. Her first inning single was a grounder that went just inside the right field foul line.
"Obviously, Hailey is a really good pitcher and we didn't make the adjustment we needed to," Capalbo said. "They also capitalized on some defensive miscues which you can't make against a good team. Unfortunately, we just didn't hit well.
"Holly (Steffus) had a really good start to the game and our defense did, too. Obviously, there are a lot of emotions playing in this game since these kids grew up playing against each other. We just didn't adjust today."
Perhaps Palatine's best hit ball was from its first batter of the game. Angie Delgado flied out to centerfielder Piento, who made a nice catch under the conditions.
"Taylor made a really awesome catch to start the game," Lucas said. ""It was a little tough pitching with the wind but it just kind of showed me that 'hey, I need to tune it down a little'. It was tough for the outfielders. We all just adjusted to wind. This was for such a great cause. It's so cool that we are able to collect donations (drive for the Palatine food pantry). It was really a great success and it's great to see the younger girls around the community out here."