Softball: Palatine downs Hersey to win MSL championship

Palatine softball fans waited 45 years to see their team play in the Mid-Suburban League championship game.

Once the game began, they hardly had to wait more than a few minutes to see their team's offense start producing.

In fact, the 16-0 Mid-Suburban West champs scored all the runs they would need in the top of the first inning.

A 2-run single to center by Rhiann Dick and an RBI single to right by Emily Brinckerhoff gave Palatine a 3-0 lead it never relinquished in a 4-2 triumph over MSL East champ Hersey before a big crowd in Arlington Heights.

Dick's game-winning RBI and the four times she reached base (3-for-4) were hardly her main contributions to the Pirates' history-making win.

The left-handed junior was also the winning pitcher, tossing a 6-hitter with 8 strikeouts.

"Rhiann is a special player who really gets up for big games," said Palatine coach Nicole Capalbo, whose team is 26-2. "She really does a good job sticking to her game plan in the batters box and carrying it over to the pitchers mound.

"Even if she is not doing well in the batters box, it never affects her pitching. But doing well in the batters box helped her with pitching today because I don't think she had her best stuff. But it was good enough stuff to get the win."

The win was Dick's 23rd in 25 decisions.

"It was good to get those three runs early because it really helps to take the stress off our team," said Dick, whose mentor Sarah Grossman (last year's pitching ace now at the Milwaukee School of Engineering) was on hand Thursday.

"Our offense knew it had to go out there attacking and we stayed strong defensively the whole game so it was great."

Dick's bat was great, and it also produced her team's only extra base hit, a double just below the top of the left field fence in the fifth inning.

"I was just looking to make contact and it just worked in my favor," said Dick of her one-out bases-loaded single to center which drove home Kaitlyn Reed and Emily Parrott in the first inning.

Moments later, Brinckerhoff's two-out single to right drove in Amanda Stanczuk to make it 3-0,

Hersey got a run back in the bottom of the inning when Makayla Tsagalis led off with a double to center and scored on Brianna Luciano's one-out single to right.

The Pirates went ahead 4-1 in the top of the fourth when Reed drew a one-out walk, stole second, went to third on Grace Huff's groundout and scored on a wild pitch.

Hersey (21-6) capped the game's scoring in the bottom of the fourth. Kylie Makuh led off the inning by teeing off on a 0-1 pitch and sending it over the right-center field fence to make it 4-2.

However, Dick retired the next three batters and did not allow another run.

She retired the final six batters of the game, getting the first out of the seventh on a nice play by freshman second baseman Kayla Courtney, who hustled to her right on a hard grounder and then threw from one knee to Stanczuk at first.

Dick was able to draw inspiration from former all-area hurler Grossman.

"Since I was a freshman and sophomore, I always looked up to Sarah and she was always a mentor to me," Dick said. "Whether I was in the game or not, she would give me pitching advice and even just general advice on life. She brought up my confidence and helped me get to where I am today."

"Not pitching as much the last two seasons, Rhiann was really a student of the game," Capalbo added. "Sarah (Grossman) did a phenomenal job of teaching Rhiann what it means to wear a Pirates jersey.

"And I think Rhiann has the same leadership role now with our freshman pitcher Kelly Beach. Rhiann gets to be the teacher now and she is really doing a good job with that."

Chase Fried, Parrott, Stanczuk, Brinckerhoff and Huff each had 1 of the Pirates' 8 hits.

"Scoring those three runs (first inning) was huge, especially against a team like Hersey," Capalbo said. "Their pitching staff is great (Luciano went the first three innings and Sarah Bailitz the last four). But I also think after scoring those three runs the girls relaxed a little too much and we left too many runners on base. But four runs was enough as Rhiann really helped our offense and used the defense behind her."

Luciano went 2-for-3 for Hersey and her only out came when Pirates catcher Anna Selleck made a nifty diving grab of her pop foul.

Tsagalis, Ria Patel, Makuh and Chloe Gordon each had a hit for Hersey.

"We just didn't deliver at some key times," Luciano said. "Palatine is awesome and we were really fired up for this game. We knew what we were facing. We made some adjustments at the plate and I'm really proud of my teammates."

"We made a couple of mistakes early," said Hersey coach Molly Freeman. "We put a few people on base and they capitalized. We definitely would have liked to clean up things earlier but Palatine is a great team. They're fun to watch and they're well coached."

Hersey's grounds crew worked overtime getting the field ready after heavy rain earlier in the day.

"We knew how important this game was to both sides, the fans and kids," Freeman said. "It is a celebratory game and we were absolutely determined to get it on.

"I'm really proud of both teams. The girls and the fans were awesome and I'm really proud of our kids for keeping their composure and playing the way they did. It was a big crowd and I thought that was a testament to both teams for how well they played throughout the season and how exciting both teams are to watch."