Scouting Fox Valley area Class 3-4A sectionals
Class 4A St. Charles North sectional
Elk Grove regional: South Elgin (14-18), which has won two straight regional titles, is the No. 17 seed in the state's toughest sectional and opens the postseason Monday at No. 16 Glenbard West (14-18). The winner gets a Tuesday trip to Elk Grove to play the No. 1 sectional seed. The Grens are 31-4.
West Chicago regional: Bartlett (24-10) drew the No. 6 sectional seed and will face No. 11 Wheaton Warrenville South (19-14) from the ultra tough DuPage Valley Conference. The Hawks, who advanced to a supersectional last year, would then likely face No. 3 seed West Chicago (24-9) for the regional title. Bartlett beat the Wildcats and ace pitcher Mary Connolly 8-6 in last year's sectional.
Other regionals: No. 2 seed St. Charles North (29-3) is the top seed at Willowbrook. The North Stars will likely meet the host Falcons (23-9), a team they beat 5-3 earlier, for the regional title. No. 4 seed Lake Park (24-8) is the top seed at the Geneva regional and could meet No. 5 Glenbard North (20-8) in the title game.
Class 4A Huntley sectional
Cary-Grove regional: The host Trojans (27-6), who have set a new school record for wins in a season, are the top seed in their own regional and play on Tuesday against the winner of Monday's play-in game between Round Lake and Crystal Lake South (13-15). The other semifinal pits Grant (20-13) against McHenry (10-17).
Huntley regional: Host Huntley (21-12), a two-time defending regional champion, is the top seed and plays No. 4 Rockford Jefferson Tuesday. No. 2 Jacobs (19-11-1) takes on No. 3 Dundee-Crown (1-26) on Wednesday. If Jacobs and Huntley meet for the regional title, it will be their fourth meeting this season. Huntley has won 2 of 3 from the Golden Eagles.
Streamwood regional: The combined record of the four teams in this regional is 30-96 but one of them will be a regional champion. No. 1 seed Elgin (10-25) takes on No. 4 Streamwood (7-23) on Tuesday and No. 2 Larkin (9-23) meets No. 4 Hoffman Estates (4-25) Wednesday. Elgin lost to Streamwood 9-6 a week ago and Larkin comes into the postseason with a 7-game losing streak.
Hononegah regional: The host Indians, who beat Huntley in the sectional semifinals last year, are the top seed in their own regional. Machesney Park Harlem is the No. 2 seed.
Advancement: At St. Charles North, the regional winners from Elk Grove and Geneva meet in one semifinal, while the regional champs from West Chicago and Willowbrook meet in the other. At Huntley, the Streamwood and Cary-Grove regional winners meet in one semi and the Huntley and Hononegah winners in the other. The sectional winners from Huntley and St. Charles North lock horns in the Judson University supersectional on June 7.
Class 3A DeKalb sectional
Hampshire regional: A geographic puzzle this regional is. The top seed is St. Viator (18-17) of Arlington Heights and No. 2 is Wheaton St. Francis (22-9). Regional host Hampshire (7-24) plays at Wheaton Academy (14-14) in the Monday play-in game. On Tuesday, the winner gets St. Viator and on Wednesday St. Francis takes on No. 3 seed Burlington Central (11-12), which finished third in Class 3A last year.
Other regionals: Kaneland is the top seed at Sycamore, Sterling is No. 1 at Sterling and Rosary is top-seeded at Sandwich.
Advancement: The Hampshire regional winner meets the Sycamore regional champ in the DeKalb sectional semifinals while the winners from Sandwich and Sterling meet in the other semi. The DeKalb sectional winner then plays the Prairie Ridge sectional champ in the June 7 NIU supersectional. Prairie Ridge (25-9) is the top seed at Woodstock North, Big Northern East champ Marengo (31-3) is the team to beat at Belvidere, Antioch is the No. 1 seed at Lakes and Wauconda is the top seed at Vernon Hills in the PR sectional field.