Sophomore catcher Quinn Krzeminski was hitting an area best .605 at the start of this week, and she was headed into Thursday's game one home run away from tying the Freeport High School home run record.
Still, her mind has been on other things, because her biggest job is going to be getting the team back on track after it recently lost its No. 1 pitcher.
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"It's going to be hard, but the more we play we'll get a little more used to not having Cameron out here, and we'll get better and better," said Krzeminski, who has played in every game both last year and this, and has struck out just four times in each season. "We just can't lean on Cameron anymore, and we're all just realizing we have to step up."
Freeport's strong softball season took a hit when the Pretzels' No. 1 senior pitcher Cameron Plowman was knocked out for the rest of the season with an undisclosed medical issue last week. But thanks in part to Krzeminski, who has quickly turned into a leader, not to mention she's on a tear in the field and at the plate, this is not a team that sounds ready to throw in the towel.
"We know we're going to have to come together as a team again, but we have a positive energy around us, and we believe we can get this back," Freeport head coach Mirakel Dedmond said. "They're coming back together. We had to make some changes, and figure some things out, but we're fine."
Plowman had 120 strikeouts in 89 innings pitched for the Pretzels, and she was hitting .404. But with Plowman out, the Pretzels had to shuffle their outfield around to bring centerfielder Diem Beach in to pitch much of the time. That caused a domino effect all across the lineup.
It also led to back-to-back losses to NIC-10 opponents, and now Freeport (12-5, 5-4 NIC-10) is out of the race for the conference title. But the Pretzels feel like they are re-grouping quickly.
The sophomore behind the plate, who has been the team's vocal leader all year long, is a big reason why.
"This year I just felt more confident, and I knew I had to be the leader out there," Krzeminski said. "I kind of flipped the switch. I feel this has been a strong season for me.
"But I do that, now, my job is going to get even tougher, with Cameron out."
Freeport was scheduled to host Harlem on Wednesday and travel to Boylan on Friday, but then the Pretzels hit their intense backstretch of the season. Freeport hosts two of the top three teams in the conference coming up: Hononegah (15-1, 9-0 NIC-10) on May 6, and Belvidere North (9-8, 7-1 NIC-10) on May 13.
"I've been saying for a long time that this is our year; this is our time," Krzeminski said. "If we're going to still make this our year, we're going to have to get it going right now. This is a big stretch for us. We believe we can still finish strong."
Jay Taft is a Rockford Register Star sports reporter. Email him at jtaft@rrstar.com and follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @JayTaft . Sign up for the Rockford High School Sports Newsletter here at rrstar.com . Jay has covered a variety of sports, from the Chicago Bears and Blackhawks to local youth sports, since the turn of the century at the Register Star .
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Freeport catcher Quinn Krzeminski has tough job ahead: Rallying team after loss of pitcher
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