The Grayslake Pride softball team can feel proud of their season.

Though they lost a 2-1 nail-biter in the championship game of the Warren Wipeout Tournament to the Cary Crush team, the season was a success.

The team wound with a record of 32-9-1 shutting out their opponents 11 times and giving up just one run another 11 times. "We had a goal at the beginning of the season of 30 wins, which was a very aggressive goal considering that we were about to play 42 games in 41 days," said manager Steve Frusolone.

The Pride 14U players are Maddie Terlap, Jamie Brew, Caitlyn Moran, Brianna Dreschler, Juliana Frusolone, Theresa Curtis, Brittany Brown, Katie Strickland, Sarah Patrzykont, Jenna Kleinofen, Danielle Celeslie and Lauren Tracy. Assisting Frusolone were coaches J.R. Strickland, Ed Moran and Marty Terlap.

In their final game against the Cary Crush, Maddie Terlap led off the bottom of the first with a single and Jamie Brew followed up with a single to center. Caitlyn Moran was safe on an error by the second baseman to load up the bases.

Theresa Curtis came through with a sacrifice fly to score the only run for the Pride as Juliana Frusolone smoked a shot to the shortstop who made an incredible play and doubled off the runner at second base.

In the top of the second inning, Cary strung together a leadoff single, a walk, and two more singles to score a brace of runs. And that was the scoring for the game.

Grayslake had runners on first and second with one out in the bottom of the seventh, but two great plays by the Cary Crush shortstop on hot grounders ended the threat and the game for the Pride.

That was the fourth game of the day for the team and though understandably exhausted, they were not completely crushed by the loss.

"We played our hearts out today. We came up short so I can never be too disappointed about the loss," said star pitcher Caitlyn Moran. "It’s a great group of girls and I love all of them. It’s like a big family. That is something that some teams don’t have. They don’t have the connection that we do." Caitlyn goes to Grant High School and will play on the team next spring.

"Maddie did outstanding as always. She is the class clown for the team. She’s fun," said an injured Jenna Kleinofen.

In the semifinal game against the Vernon Hills Stingers, Brittany Brown tossed a 4-hit shutout to advance the Pride into the championship game. The Pride took control of the game from the start with a walk, three bunt singles, a sacrifice fly and a ground out to put up four runs.

In the top of the third, Grayslake tallied two more times on two hits, a walk, an error, a wild pitch and a fielder’s choice to go up 6-0. That wound up being the final score with Brown's six strikeouts to go with the outstanding defense of Brew, Terlap, Frusolone and Moran in the infield.

In the top of the fifth inning, Jenna Kleinofen injured her knee on a close play at first base that put her out of the game and the championship, as well. "I hit the edge of the base and jammed my knee. I was hoping to get through the season without sitting out any games due to injuries," Kleinofen said.

"We just really worked well together and we know how to play and just expect things from each other," said shortstop Juliana Frusolone. "We know how to pick each other up and we know how to have fun and enjoy the games."

"This was my first year on the team and I really enjoyed it. It was disappointing to lose, but we had fun playing," said Danielle Celeslie.

"Coach Frusolone is a great teacher and really helps all of us to play our best," said Caitlyn Moran.

The Pride took second place in the McHenry Tournament, losing the championship 4-3 to a Triple Play Express team that was 70-2 at the time. They took fifth place among 28 teams in the Trevian tournament after winning the tournament the past two years.

They won the Grayslake Tournament (champs two of the last three years) and took fifth place out of 16 teams in the Chicago Bandits tournament. They won the Vernon Hills Tournament (20+ teams) and earned a National Qualifier Bid.

"Due to restrictions such as a requirement to first participate in a state-sanctioned tournament, we would have had to go to Rockford Wednesday through Sunday and then immediately left for Iowa. Thus, we decided to roll the bid over to next year," said Frusolone.

This was an extremely tight-knit group of girls who had fun and played hard together. "I don’t think of these girls as teammates anymore because we have played together for such a long time. They are my best friends," said Jenna Kleinofen.

The final tryout for the 2012 season is Saturday, Aug. 20, at Alleghany Park. For more information on the tryouts, contact the Grayslake Park District at 1-847-223-7529 or visit grayslakepride.org.