Softball: Fremd rolls past South Elgin in regional final

Fremd softball coach Josh Teschner says that his squad "tends to put a lot of pressure on teams."

That was never more evident than Saturday at the Vikings' Class 4A regional championship game on their home field in Palatine.

Playing an opportunistic style at every turn, the Vikings turned 2 hits in the first two innings into 5 runs against South Elgin.

Fremd added on from there in posting a 9-1 regional title win, as sophomore Grace Hiller threw a complete game to improve to 10-2 on the season.

"She's had a great year," said Teschner of Hiller. "Grace is just a dynamic kid."

The Vikings (21-8) will take on St. Charles East on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. in the Glenbard West sectional semifinals.

Kalyn McCarthy was on base four times for the Vikings (2 hits and 2 walks) and scored 4 runs, while Cara Cruthers doubled for South Elgin, 1 of only 3 hits by the Storm (26-7).

McKenna Eicholz and Samantha Jimenez had the other base knocks for South Elgin.

"We didn't adjust very well today," said South Elgin coach Brad Reynard, "but kudos to Fremd. They made us pay every time (we made a mistake). It just wasn't our day."

Fremd parlayed 2 walks and a hit batsman into 3 first-inning runs on RBI from Reagan Goluch (2-run single) and McKenna Schneider.

Two more runs followed for the Vikings in the second, then Fremd made it 6-0 in the fourth on a sacrifice fly from Kelsey Brauer.

South Elgin's best chance came in the bottom of the fourth. The Storm scored a run (RBI single by Jimenez) and had the bases loaded with no one out.

But Hiller then slammed the door on the Storm with a strikeout and a 1-2-3 double play.

"At that point I wanted to get the outs because we had the lead," said Hiller. "If I just hit my spots and let my team play defense, I knew we were going to do it."

"We had an opportunity," said Reynard, "but hats off to their pitcher. She kept us off balance and got the big strikeout when she needed to."

Fremd tacked on 3 more runs in the fifth as McCarthy, Brauer, and Calista DiVito all knocked in runs.

Brauer had 3 hits for the Vikings, 2 singles and a double, while Goluch was on base three times for the Vikes.

"We knew at the beginning of the year," said Teschner, "being a young team, that it would take boundless effort (to be successful) and the girls responded, every single one of them. They've played at a very high level all season long."