Softball: Neuman's no-hitter clinches MSL West for Conant
Sara Neuman has a perfect record on the mound this season.
She almost had a perfect game on Monday.
But she had no complaints settling for Conant's first no-hitter since Briana Cavin in 2012.
The icing on the cake was a Mid-Suburban West championship that puts the Cougars in the MSL championship game for the third time in six years under veteran coach CathyAnn Smith. They will host Elk Grove on Thursday.
After a dropped third strike on the first batter of the game, Neuman retired 15 straight as Conant topped visiting Palatine in five innings 14-0.
The Cougars (22-4) improved to 15-0 to clinch the West ahead of runner-up Fremd (21-4, 12-2).
Neuman, who struck out five, raised here record 18-0.
"It (no-hitter) was a goal I set at the beginning of the season," said Neuman, who will play at Saint Leo University in Florida next spring. "It's so amazing I could pull it off. I had super tight defense behind me.
"It feels great. I knew I wanted to do some big things my senior year."
She got the big bats again from her teammates, led by No. 8 hitter Carly Rossdeutcher, a junior who went 3-for-4 with a double and RBI.
The Cougars made it two straight innings in which they batted around.
They sent 19 batters to the plate in their 13-run seventh inning against Wheeling on Saturday and then opened with an 11-run first inning against Palatine with 15 batters.
Other multiple hitters for the MSL West champs were Morgan Bihun (2-for-3, 2 doubles, walk, 3 RBI), Jackie Burchfield (2-for-4, walk, RBI) and Delaney Szwed (2-for-4, double).
Also hitting safely for the hosts were Lauren Grzelak (1-for-2, walk), Sydney Correa (1-for-3 2 RBI), Dream Aaron (1-for-2, RBI), Sam Gadomski (1-for-3, walk) and Makenna McCarthy (1-for-3, walk).
"Obviously, it feels great to win another division title," said Aaron, who along with Neuman were sophomores on Conant's undefeated conference championship team in 2014. "It's been a great program all four of my years here.
"Sara has been great all season. I was so excited for her. She deserves it because she works so hard."
"It all fell into place for Sara," Smith said. "She's a kid with great heart and in my opinion, no one deserves it more.
"The girls knew what this game meant so they came out hitting which was nice to see."
Palatine's highlights came on the defensive side.
Shortstop Emily Parrott made a nifty over the back running catch in shallow right to take a hit away from Grzelak in the second inning.
Pirates first baseman Brooke Bauer made nice backhand stab of Gadomski's liner for the first out of the bottom of the fourth.
The final out came on a nice play by second baseman Maddie Craver going to her right to backhand Burchfield's grounder and then throwing to Bauer at first.
Freshman Grace Huff was her usual steady self in center field and classmate Jenna Patano was solid in relief for the Pirates (9-16, 6-10).
Assistant Palatine coach Kristen Proffitt called on Patano to throw the final 3⅔ innings.
"Jenna did awesome," said Proffit who was filling in for head coach Nicole Pauly (taking school classes). "She was keeping the ball down really well. You have to do that against this team (Conant) to keep them off balance."
The Cougars will try for their second undefeated league mark (16-0) in three seasons when they visit Fremd today.
"It's a great group of girls," Smith said of her varsity roster which features only two seniors. "We take it one game at a time and Sara does her thing. It's a good thing at the end of the day."