Dolezal, Barrington blank Jacobs
Kelsey Peters was good. Keenan Dolezal was better.
Dolezal, who allowed only a single to Emily Borg in the second inning, tossed a 1-hit shut out as top-seeded Barrington defeated No. 4 seed Jacobs 3-0 in semifinal action of the Class 4A Cary-Grove softball regional Wednesday afternoon.
The Fillies (24-11) advance to Friday's regional title game at 4:30 p.m. and will play the winner of Thursday's Crystal Lake South vs. Cary Grove game.
Dolezal, who no-hit Jacobs the final six innings, struck out 6 and was able to overcome 4 walks.
"I felt I had good stuff and was able to overpower some of the hitters," said Dolezal. "I overthrew the ball at times and that caused some walks. My defense behind me was great and I am glad the seniors get to play one more game."
Barrington coach Perry Peterson was pleased with Dolezal's effort.
"She pitched a great game," said Peterson, whose team took third place in Class 4A last season.
"Keenan had great command of her all her pitches. She got ahead of the hitters and got early outs in the count. She didn't have to throw a lot of pitches.''
Peters, who blanked the Fillies in five of the six innings she pitched on 2 singles, endured a rocky second inning which proved fatal.
Peters hit 2 batters and walked 2 as Barrington plated the only 3 runs of the game. Kat Panos and Carly Kordich contributed RBI singles for the winning Fillies.
Jacobs (17-14), which beat Barrington 7-3 on April 1, had opportunities to score in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings.
In the fifth, Danielle O Toole and Payton Spirling walked with two outs but Dolezal struck out Taylor Belo to end the inning.
Sarah Murray worked Dolezal for a walk to lead off the second and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Courtney Cotugno but Dolezal retired Alyssa Lach and Emily Borg to end the inning.
In the seventh, the potential rally started with a walk to Kelsey Cummings. Cummings stayed at first, though, as Dolezal retired the final three hitters to end the game.
"Kelsey pitched a great game." said Jacobs coach Jeremy Bauer of Peters. "She had good mechanics and she mixed her pitches well. She had the one bad inning where she lost her control a little. Their pitcher pitched great and she did a great job of mixing her pitches and she kept out hitters off stride. Offensively, they executed well and got the timely hits."