Softball/Scouting the Rockford Guilford sectional
Class 4A Rockford Guilford sectional
The matchups: DeKalb (29-4) vs. Rockton Hononegah (23-7), 4:30 p.m. today; Cary-Grove (29-1) vs. Jacobs (21-11), 4:30 p.m. Thursday; Winners meet for championship at 11 a.m. Saturday.
How they got here: DeKalb defeated Elgin 4-1 and South Elgin 6-2 to win the South Elgin regional; Hononegah defeated Rockford Auburn 26-0 and Machesney Park Harlem 6-1 to win the Harlem regional; Cary-Grove defeated McHenry 6-0 and Grant 3-2 to win the McHenry regional; Jacobs defeated Dundee-Crown 11-1 and Crystal Lake South 6-2 to win the Rockford Jefferson regional.
Outlook: Cary-Grove marches into the sectional looking to defend the title it won at Huntley last year and return to the Elite Eight. The top-ranked Trojans have played with a Bull’s Eye on their back all season and only faltered once, that in a 6-4 loss to Elgin on the Lippold Park turf on April 9.
This is the fourth matchup of the season between the top two teams in the Fox Valley Conference Valley Division. Cary-Grove won the three regular-season meetings 6-2, 3-2 and 9-5. Jacobs was the last team to beat the Trojans in FVC Valley play, that coming last season. Cary-Grove beat Jacobs to win the sectional title last year.
Cary-Grove has been led all season again by sophomore right-hander Lindsay Efflandt (26-1, 0.84 ERA, 235 Ks) as well as a potent enough offense and defense that doesn’t make crucial mistakes. Senior leadoff hitter Eleni Polites (. 509, 16 RBI, 27 of 28 SBs), junior Taylor Dunne (. 447, 23 RBI), junior Sara Markelonis (. 415, 2 HRs, 21 RBI), senior Emma Gaulke (. 382, 5 HRs, 30 RBI), freshman Lisa Semro (. 376, 3 HRs, 35 RBI), sophomore Sarah Leudo (. 348, 3 HRs, 20 RBI) and Efflandt (. 347, 6 HRs, 33 RBI) lead a team that hits .367 as a club. Defensively, Haley is one of the best center fielders around and Markelonis and Gaulke have been solid on the left side of the infield.
“We’ve seen them three times so they won’t do anything that confuses us or trick us,” said Jacobs coach Jeremy Bauer. “One of the things they’re so good at is they do things you’re not accustomed to seeing and it throws your confidence off. We’ve game planned and I think we’ll be ready for their mind games and their aggressiveness. It will come down to who plays the cleanest game. Those three games we played were regular-season games. This is when it really counts.”
Bauer’s team has come on strong as of late, winning 7 straight since the 9-5 loss to Cary-Grove. The Golden Eagles are led in the circle by senior Marissa Lombardo (11-5) and offensively by freshman Alyssa Lach (. 469, 38 RBI), seniors Kara Arceneaux (. 383. 19 RBI), Jenna Teson (. 384), Lombardo (. 329, 13 RBI), and Kelsey Peterson (. 319, 4 HRs, 24 RBI).
But to Cary-Grove coach Tammy Olson, it’s not about Jacobs, it’s about Jacobs being the next game.
“One game at a time,” Olson said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s Jacobs or if it’s someone else, it’s the next game. Our confidence comes in what we’ve worked on all year. It doesn’t matter that it’s Jacobs or anyone else. Everybody’s ready at this point of the season and everybody wants to win. We know Jacobs will be ready and it will be an even fight.”
The winner will take on the winner of Wednesday’s semifinal between DeKalb and Hononegah. DeKalb, led by freshman pitcher Katie Kowalski, beat Hononegah 6-1 earlier in the season and the Barbs could be a dark horse in this field.
Advancement: The Guilford sectional winner plays Monday, June 6 at 6:15 p.m. in the NIU supersectional against the winner of the Schaumburg sectional. Elk Grove plays West Chicago Wednesday and St. Charles North takes on Leyden Thursday at Schaumburg.