Kaneland finishes perfect in conference

Following a 2-0 win over DeKalb on Thursday, the Kaneland girls softball team took a well-earned trip to Alice's Place in Elburn for some ice cream.

The Knights' victory put the finishing touches on an undefeated Northern Illinois Big XII East championship, and players, coaches and family alike couldn't wait to celebrate.

"We have been really gelling as a team and we know we are going to pick each other up," winning pitcher Angie Morrow said. "Even if we are not having the best hitting day we will have a good defensive day. Or if we are having a bad defensive day we pick each other up on offense. We kind of work together like that."

Thursday wasn't one of the Knights' better hitting days against DeKalb lefty Morgan Newport who gave up just 3 hits. Kaneland (16-6, 8-0) also made a couple errors in the seventh inning that nearly allowed DeKalb (14-12, 5-3) to tie the game.

But what the Knights had was pitching with Morrow, who surrendered just a fourth-inning single while striking out nine.

"She did a better job spotting her pitches today against us than she did the first time around," DeKalb coach Jeff Davis said. "She was on her 'A' game today. She threw really well. When she can keep us down to 1 hit, that's pretty good pitching. We tip our hat to her today."

Morrow, now 12-1, was the winning pitcher in all 8 of Kaneland's conference wins. That included a 9-8 victory against Morris, the closest the Knights came to a loss, though only 3 of the runs were earned. Morris and DeKalb ended up tied for second.

"Her drop ball and keeping everything on the corner had them fishing for it," Kaneland coach Peter Goff said.

Meg Cohrs gave Morrow all the offense she needed in the second when she hit the first pitch she saw for a solo home run, her sixth of the season.

The Knights got their other run in the sixth. Rachel Goress led off with a single, moved to second on Courtney Davis' bunt and scored on a 2-out single to right by Morgan Weber.

"Morgan struggled today but she fought that off and got that pitch, just really happy for her," said Kaneland's first-year coach Goff, proud of his team running the table in conference.

"You have to give the girls a lot of credit."