No early exit for Conant this year

Last year Conant’s softball team checked out of the postseason early, falling to Leyden in the regional championship game.

This year, the Cougars are looking for an extended stay and they took a step forward on Saturday.

Conant senior pitcher Briana Cavin held Hersey’s bats in check while leading the Cougars to an 8-1 victory in the Hoffman Estates Class 4A regional title game.

Top-seeded Conant (32-3) won its fourth overall regional title and first since 2005 in advancing to Wednesday’s Barrington Class 4A sectional semifinal at 4:30 p.m. against No. 4 Barrington (30-7).

“Our coaches have been reminding us of how it felt last year,” said Cavin of the Cougars’ early exit. “We used that to play for this season, making sure we don’t do that again and we play further this year.”

Conant put the pressure on early, scoring single runs in the first two innings, then extending its lead to 5-0 with a 3-run third inning.

Senior Kim Jacobson (2-for-3, 1 RBI), sophomore Telly Hunter and senior Megan Reff aided the Cougars in the pivotal third inning with run-scoring singles.

“We learned we have to finish and play hard the entire game,” said Jacobson, who sacrificed across a run in the fourth inning to extend the Cougars’ lead to 6-0. “Today we finished every single inning, played great defense and also had great pitching.”

Junior center fielder Sarah Thompson keyed the defense in the third inning throwing out Hersey junior Gina Fasolo at home to extinguish a Huskies threat.

Cougar sophomore second baseman Rachel O’Malley and senior shortstop Allie Bauch displayed some tight glove work in the fourth to keep the Huskies from mounting a rally.

Briana Cavin (29-2) once again powered the Mid-Suburban League champions by holding Hersey (18-18) scoreless for the first 5 innings.

The Cougars added to their margin with a pair of runs in the fifth to take a commanding 8-0 advantage.

“Last year we fell a bit short,” said Conant coach CathyAnn Smith, “It’s a little bit more business this year. This was a big goal. One game at a time and they know what the next goal is.”

Hersey, despite 4 errors and three wild pitches, was able to keep the game within reach.

Senior Val Burke reached on a one-out double in the sixth inning and junior Sarah Platt (2-for-4) followed with a run-scoring single.

Senior Melissa Cecala followed with a single for Hersey, but Cavin was able to avert further damage by securing the final two outs on a pop out and groundout.

“We came out today and swung our bats well, we had a couple things on defense that put us back,” said Hersey coach Molly Freeman, “But hats off to Conant, they’re a great team.”

Senior Alex Tinaglia went 3-for-4, including a double, in aiding a big turnaround for a Hersey team that finished 10-22 last season.

“We’ve come such a long way since the beginning of the season, even from years past,” said Tinaglia of the Huskies’ performance. “We’ve just grown so much as a team.”