Softball: Kanupke continues power surge, sends Fremd past Elk Grove

Claire Kanupke began the week with a walk-off homer in Fremd's 11-1 win over Schaumburg.

On Thursday, the senior No. 3 hitter came up with a chance to do the same thing against Elk Grove in the fourth inning.

Sure enough, Kanupke clubbed a towering 2-run blast well over the center-field fence to wrap up the Vikings' 16-0 shutout over Elk Grove as a drizzle fell from the skies at the end of the Mid-Suburban League crossover.

Those two homers were hardly the extent of Kanupke's bat work over a period of eight days.

Starting against Palatine on April 23, Kanupke has now hit homers in four straight MSL games, giving her four for her career.

She also had a walk off single earlier this season in Fremd's 6-5 triumph over Wheaton North.

The modest Kanupke just wanted to credit her teammates.

"All my teammates get on base so it makes it pretty easy and exciting," said Kanupke, whose mother Karen (Stewart-Kanupke) starred as a shortstop at Hersey and DePaul. "I've been feeling good at the plate but it is all of us collectively working together. We're having good at-bats and seeing the ball pretty well. It's not just me but everyone else getting on,"

Kanupke (4 RBI), the designated player on Thursday, got on base three times, including an infield single in the first inning and a 2-run double to left center in the third inning.

"The amazing thing about Claire is that she has stayed true to her work ethic for four years," said Vikings coach Josh Teschner, whose team raised its record to 16-2 and 7-1. "But last fall and this past winter I don't know if anybody worked as hard on their swing and on their craft and it's phenomenal to see it paying off for such a great kid who understands what it means to put the team first. She passed the bat her whole career and now it's paying off, She is doing a phenomenal job."

Fremd pitcher Hailey Lucas (11-2) has been phenomenal in her Fremd career and served up another typical performance on Thursday with a 2-hitter and 10 strikeouts in four innings.

She now has 606 strikeouts in her career, just five away from moving into the No. 2 spot all time in program history behind Lena Brotmann.

"I think there is very little doubt that Hailey is bare minimum the best strikeout pitcher in the history of our program," Teschner said. "She may not catch Lena's 1,000-plus strikeouts but when it comes to strikeouts per game, she averages about 14 per game so she is what you ask for in a pitcher. She is someone who is going to take the ball and take a lot of pressure off the defense, But then in turn, I think what makes her so great is that she does it on offense for you, too."

Batting No. 2, Lucas had two of the Vikings' season-high 6 doubles. The others were from Taylor Piento (1-1 with 3 walks and 3 runs) and No. 9 hitter Penelope Schmidt, who went 3-for-3 with 2 doubles and 2 RBI.

"We've preached a good approach, meet the ball out in front of the plate and drive it," Teschner said. "And the girls are starting to do that. They are really executing well."

Anna Montella went 2-for-2 for 2 RBI and a bases-loaded walk while Amanda Poniecki and

Avery Sheridan also had hits for the Vikes.

Bri Magner, the Grenadiers ace who did not pitch on Thursday because she worked the three previous days and suffered a bruised thigh on Wednesday, got the first hit off Lucas with a single to right to lead off the second inning..

Leadoff batter Aliya Garcia had the other hit for EG (8-6, 5-3) with two outs in the third inning.

They were the only batters to reach base on the Southern Illinois recruit Lucas.

"Their pitcher is good," said Elk Grove coach Ken Grams. "We knew that. You can't give them a whole bunch of runs with her on the mound but we didn't score runs ourselves."

Teschner gave high scores to his grounds crew.

"They spent a lot of time on the field," Teschner said. "They worked like four or five hours in the morning, then Russ (Anderson, Fremd assistant coach) and I came out for a couple of hours before the outdoor crew came back out for two hours in the afternoon. You want to talk about guys who understand teamwork. Our grounds crew was phenomenal."