Pitching and defense can carry a softball team a long way.
Fremd senior pitcher Molly Kanupke stymied a potent St. Charles North offense, firing a three-hit complete game while receiving strong support from her defense, as the fourth-seeded Vikings (19-7-1) knocked off the top-seeded North Stars 3-1 in Tuesday’s Class 4A Bartlett Sectional semifinals.
Kanupke (13-6), who walked one and recorded six strikeouts, allowed just four baserunners for the Vikings, who avenged last month’s 12-6 loss to St. Charles North.
“Our hallmark the last month and a half is Molly in the circle and our defense,” said Fremd coach Josh Teschner, whose team will face either St. Charles East or Glenbard East in Saturday’s 11 a.m. sectional championship.
“We are 13-1-1 (in our last 15 games) and have played some incredible softball. It starts in the circle with an incredible senior pitcher who is trying to extend the season as long as possible, and a bunch of girls in the field who keep wanting to make plays for her.”
The North Stars (23-3) grabbed a 1-0 lead in the third, as Ella Heimbuch sliced a two-out triple to left and scored on Julianna Kouba’s RBI single.
The lead didn’t last long.
Fremd took the lead for good in the top of the fourth when sophomore Hadley Carter (2 for 3) crushed a 1-2 changeup over the left-field fence, driving in Amanda Poniecki, who singled to lead off the frame.
“I was just trying to get something going and do it for my team,” Carter said of her second home run of the season. “It was very nice to see it go over the fence. I was excited.”
“Hadley has had some incredible at-bats the last month,” said Teschner. “She hasn’t necessarily seen a lot of hits fall for her, but she has been working really hard with adjusting pitch to pitch. It was a perfect situation with two strikes – she had a great approach and hit it hard.”
The Vikings added an insurance run in the fifth. Suzana Grosman walked, stole second and scored on a North Stars fielding error.
Defensively, Fremd played an errorless game that featured outstanding one-out catches from junior center fielder Audrie Corrado in the fourth and sophomore right fielder Reagan Bokios in the fifth.
“Those were great catches by Audrie and Reagan – they helped me out,” said Kanupke. “Every time that my teammate makes a big play to save a double or triple, it really gives me confidence to keep throwing my game.”
Heimbuch (2 for 2, walk) led off the sixth with a double but was left stranded at third, and the North Stars went down in order in the seventh.
“We’re averaging over 10 runs a game against a tough schedule,” said North Stars coach Tom Poulin. “She (Kanupke) had to have been doing something right. We picked a bad day to have a bad day at the plate.
“I felt like we were letting pitches go by that were hittable and swinging at pitches that were tougher to hit. We didn’t do it with the bats today – which is the last scenario I would have seen coming.
“They outplayed us today.”
It was an especially tough ending for North Stars seniors Abby Zawadzki, Carrigan Rich, Miranda Quigley and Ginger Ritter.
“We’ll have a lot of girls coming back,” said Poulin. “The seniors were incredible. They had an incredible run. The best thing about those seniors is they did whatever we identified was best for the team and the program throughout their four years.”
https://www.dailyherald.com/20260526/softball/softball-kanupke-fremd-stun-st-charles-north-in-sectional-semifinals/