Wheeling becomes Streamwood’s latest ‘Conquest’
There are a lot of E’s in the first name of Streamwood pitcher Kellee Conquest.
But there was only one (error) by her defense and that helped Conquest get the win in a combined 2-hit shutout, 3-0, over visiting Wheeling on Tuesday.
“I can’t take all the credit,” said the modest Conquest (2-0), who has given up only 1 earned run in 12 innings this season. “I’ve got really good defense this season. This is a team sport.”
A windblown double to right field by junior Ashley Hafertepe and a single to right by pinch-hitter Emily Walker were the 2 hits by Wheeling.
Sophomore Kaitlyn Hedger (2 earned runs in 152⁄3 innings) relieved Conquest in the sixth and retired six straight batters to record the save.
“We hit the ball hard,” said Wheeling coach Mike Caringella after his team’s season opener. “They made the plays.”
Caringella’s pitcher wasn’t so bad herself.
Streamwood (3-1) had 40 hits in its first three games. But sophomore Katie Quagliano held the Sabres to 3 hits while striking out 7 in 7 innings. She surrendered 2 runs in the first inning when Streamwood took advantage of 2 walks, an illegal pitch and an error.
Leadoff batter Andrea Barajas reached on an error and later scored on an illegal pitch while junior Brittany Delao had an RBI single to center to score classmate Alexis Ciengi (walk) for a 2-0 lead.
“Katie settled down and pitched a great game,” Caringella added. “We had some early jitters but after that we settled down. We just couldn’t get the hits. We’ve got to work to do. But for our first game, I’m pleased.”
Streamwood coach Nick Baird was impressed with Quagliano.
“We’ve been smashing the ball,” said the four-year Sabres boss. “She kept us off balance. But our great defense kept us in it. It was a tough weather day, too, but that’s for both teams.”
Conquest had a perfect game until two outs in the fourth when Hafertepe drove her towering fly ball toward right for two bases. Conquest got the next batter on a groundout to third baseman Dani Fisher to end the inning. First baseman Kylee Jambor had 11 putouts.
“My curve ball was working well,” Conquest said. “That’s my favorite pitch because it comes naturally and it can confuse batters.”
Conquest’s catcher, Ciengi, was the only player in the game to reach base twice (walk and an error).
“Alexis is a really good catcher,” Conquest said. “She’s so supportive and she moves the ball in and out real well with her glove. She does a lot of good things back there.”
The Sabres added their third run in the fourth inning when Natalie Filippio singled to center to bring home Melissa Malcolm (walk) with two outs.
With their 3 wins, the Sabres are only one shy of the 4 they won last season.
“This is the best team we’ve had in a while,” Conquest added “We have a lot of potential and we’ve come out strong so far. I think we will be a team to watch.”
Although he would have liked to have seen more hits, Baird liked the Sabres’ approach at the plate.
“The good thing is that we had some quality at-bats,” he said. “We went deep into the counts.
“A win is a win. Defensively, we played great. We made some nice solid plays. We have potential. Now we have DeKalb on Friday so we’ll see where we’re at.”