Cary-Grove claims share of FVC Valley
Sure, Cary-Grove would have liked to have won the Fox Valley Conference Valley Division softball championship outright.
But the Trojans will take a piece of a conference title.
Propelled by an outstanding effort in the pitchers circle by Lindsay Efflandt and timely hitting from Jamie Deering and Taylor Dunne, the Trojans eked out a 1-0 win over Prairie Ridge in Cary Monday afternoon.
The Trojans, 25-6 overall, share the conference championship with McHenry. Both teams sported 10-2 marks in league play.
This is the third straight conference championship for the Trojans.
“Three conference titles in three years,” said Dunne, a senior. “It feels great. Prairie Ridge is a great team and Kirsten (Stevens) is a great pitcher.”
Cary-Grove plated its only run of the game off Stevens in the sixth. Deering led off the inning with a perfectly place tripled to right field and scored on Dunne’s sacrifice fly.
“We moved Jamie to No. 2 in the lineup and she hit a great pitch for a triple,” said Cary-Grove coach Tammy Olson. “What Taylor contributed some people would call great situational hitting. I call it selfless. We changed the lineup a little and we hope it will work. We are going to celebrate this conference championship. It is a great accomplishment for these girls.”
Along with the key triple, Deering also executed two perfectly executed sacrifice bunts.
“I got a high fastball on the outside corner,” said Deering of the triple. “I felt like I got all of it. It feels great to help the team win. PR is always tough to beat.”
The run Cary-Grove scored in the sixth was all Efflandt needed as she was spectacular in recording a 2-hit shutout. The junior struck out 6 while walking 1 in 7 innings of work.
“Like she has been all season, Lindsay was outstanding,” said Olson. “She mixed her pitches very well and she pitched a strong game against a very good team.”
Stevens matched Efflandt pitch for pitch for PR (19-7-1, 7-5). The hard-throwing junior left-hander allowed just 1 run on 3 hits in 6 innings of work. She struck out 8 while allowing 3 walks. The Wolves didn’t commit an error behind Stevens.
“We played a very good game defensively and Kirsten pitched a great game,” said PR coach Mike Buck. “This is the best game we have played in a while. This was a nice springboard going into the (state) tournament.”