Softball: Grossman, Palatine blank Hersey
Palatine's softball team scored all of its runs with two outs in the top of the fifth inning as Sarah Grossman blanked Hersey 3-0 in Arlington Heights on Saturday morning.
Grossman tossed a 4-hitter and struck out 12, giving her more than 170 strikeouts for the season.
The Pirates raised their record to 18-4 and 10-1 in the Mid-Suburban West, 1½ games behind Barrington (12-0).
Hersey junior Brianna Luciano (5-4) struck out six for the Huskies (14-5, 7-4), who trail Prospect (16-6, 8-4) by a half game in the MSL East.
Kaitlyn Reed singled to start the Pirates' rally. She went to second on a sacrifice bunt by Maddie Craver.
After an out, Grace Huff drew a walk.
Senior Brittany Padden then belted a double off the right center field fence to score Reed and Huff.
"Stepping up to the plate I knew that I needed a hard hit to bring Kaitlyn in," Padden said. "I just watched the ball all the way in and made solid contact. It felt like a good hit the second it came off the bat.
"Today was a great game and I'm proud of every single one of my teammates."
Amanda Stanczuk (2-for-3, RBI) gave the Pirates an insurance run when she hit a line drive single to left center to score Stanczuk.
"I was just trying to help out Sarah (Grossman)," Stanczuk said. "She pitched a great game and I wanted to back her up.
"During our three run inning I knew I had a great opportunity to come through for the team so I just tried my best and it ended up working out."
Grossman raised her record to 12-1.
"Sarah was great today," said Palatine assistant coach Kristen Proffitt. "She's always tough on the mound and she came out ready to go this morning. She was hitting her spots and she had great movement on her pitches. She's the type of pitcher that elevates her game in big situations and she did that for us today.
"And Anna Selleck did a great job behind the plate. She adjusted to Sarah's movement and held on for the strikeouts. That's tough to do when a ball is moving that much. She also made a diving catch into the fence and it was a great boost for our team and really gave us the momentum and the energy we needed to finish out the win."
Grossman struck out the side in the bottom of the seventh.
"This was a really important game for us and we were completely confident in both our defense and offense and that mentality helped us stay up the whole game," said the Milwaukee School of Engineering recruit. "I knew my team would have my back with runs and would make the plays if I threw my pitches and hit my spots."
Sophomore Rhiann Dick also went 3-for-4 for the Pirates while Emily Parrot was 2-for-4.
"Going into this game we knew we had to win every aspect of the game," Dick said. "And our team accomplished just that. Going up to the plate I was just focusing on getting a good pitch and getting our team in a good spot to drive in the runs. Sarah did a great job pitching and it was a great team win."
Junior Makayla Tsagalis (2-for-3) had a double for Hersey.
Elk Grove 13, Wheeling 2 (5 inn.): Junior Jaimie Klicka threw a 5-hitter with 7 strikeouts and 1 walks for the host Grenadiers (10-12, 6-5).
Katia Pendowski belted her 10th homer of the season, giving her 20 for her career. The sophomore catcher (2-for-3, 1 walk) also had a double, as did freshman teammate Olivia Masnica.
Sophomore Emmie LaCaeyse belted a homer for Wheeling (0-13, 0-10).
Fremd 11, Rolling Meadows 0 (5 inn.): Junior Gianna Arnieri went 3-for-3 with a triple and 2 doubles for visiting Fremd (15-6, 7-4). Other multiple hitters for the Vikings were Grace Stevens (3-for-4, double), Gianna Arnieri (3-for-3), Hannah Ban (2-for-4, double) and Jess Mazur (2-for-3). Senior Nikki Kehoe (7-1) struck out four in 3 innings to earn the win.
Sam Allen and Sara Benner (double) each went 2-for-3 for the Mustangs (9-12, 4-7).
St. Viator falls twice: Marian Catholic topped the Lions 10-4 and 14-5 in the twin bill in Chicago Heights.
Morgan Bielfeldt belted her third homer of the season in Game 1. She had 5 RBI for the day. Bielfeldt, Cece Kaiser, Maggie VanValkenburg and Nicole Ardito all had 3 hits on the day for the Lions (2-21, 0-10).