Elgin beats rain, Rockford Jefferson

Like an evil stepmother or the wicked witch of the west, Mother Nature can play havoc with a baseball team's momentum.

That's very nearly what happened to Elgin Monday afternoon in its 10-5 victory over Rockford Jefferson in an Class 4A DeKalb regional play-in game.

The fourth-seeded Maroons held a 1-0 lead over Rockford Jefferson in the bottom of the first inning and were looking for more when the darkening skies opened.

It took almost an hour for the rain to stop and for Elgin's players and coaching staff to tend to the field, but the Maroons showed no ill effects when play resumed. The first hitter up to bat after the delay was Jack Koeckritz, who doubled in Tom Sobeski to extend the lead to 2-0.

Mike Gonzalez kept the momentum going in the bottom of the second, slamming the first pitch he saw over the left field fence for the Maroons' first home run this season and a 3-0 lead.

Elgin added 3 runs apiece in the third and fourth innings, more than enough to set up a date in the regional semifinals at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday at DeKalb against the top-seeded and host Barbs.

Color Elgin coach David Foerster relieved, because the delay could have meant a much different outcome.

"Absolutely," said Foerster, whose team improved to 9-27. "Just having that downtime, having started the game already, I was definitely worried about how we'd come back. But to our kids' credit, we picked up where we left off. By the time the game started again, they were back in focus on the game. I was very impressed with that."

He was also impressed with the outing of starting pitcher Clay White, who gave up just 1 hit in 4 innings while striking out 3, retiring the last 11 Jefferson hitters in a row.

"He's been good the last two years," Foerster said. "He's kind of our go-to guy, and he got us in the game, and now we have options for Wednesday. That's what we were kind of thinking there. Everybody's available."

White, a senior, said the rain delay presented a mental challenge for him from the standpoint of waiting, waiting and waiting some more.

"It's pretty frustrating," he said. "I just wanted to get the game going. Every time I pitch, that's all I want to do is just stay out there and throw strikes, you know?"

What was his key to success Monday?

"I just relied on my outside fastballs," he said. "When you just keep the ball low and paint the corners, there's not much you can do with a ball that's low except hit it on the ground."

Elgin broke the game wide open in its half of the third. With one out, Scotty Palmer reached on an error and Koeckritz got on via an infield single. A walk to Brandon Stork loaded the bases, and prompted a pitching change for the J-Hawks. The new hurler, Breshawn Billups, threw a wild pitch that allowed Palmer to score and Koeckritz and Stork to move up a base. Gonzalez was next and promptly singled to left to score Koeckritz and Stork. But the frame ended when Andrew Hardt grounded into a 5-4-3 double play,

The bottom of the fourth was a near mirror image of the third for Elgin. With one out, Dean Anderson singled and moved to second on an error. White and Sobeski walked to load the bases, prompting another Jefferson pitching change. New hurler Fidel Avila threw a wild pitch that brought in Anderson, and a Palmer single drove in White and courtesy runner Kirtan Patel. Koeckritz and Stork flew out to end the inning, but suddenly the Maroons' lead was 9-0.

Gonzalez, who went 2-for-3 with 3 RBI, said his team sidestepped potential problems presented by the rain delay.

"It kind of put the hype down because in the first inning, we were all hyped, and as soon as the rain delay hit, we had to take care of the field, which is kind of a drag," he said.

Now looming for Elgin is DeKalb, which the Maroons lost to 6-4 in the first game of the season.

"They swing the bats pretty well," Foerster said of DeKalb, which is 17-16. "They are a quality team. They can swing the bats, they have a lot of quality hitters throughout the order."

But for White, Monday was all about both surviving and savoring the win.

"This is big," he said. "I don't know how long it's been since we got through the first regional game. It feels really good. We've just got to come in Wednesday as ready as we are today."

Streamwood 8, York 3: Adam Sojda had 3 RBI and threw a complete game 7-hitter to lead the Sabres (5-27) to a win in the play-in game of the Class 4A Schaumburg regional. Sojda struck out 6 and didn't walk a batter. Jose Aguilar (3B, RBI) and Tim Crom added 2 hits each in the win, while Jake Painter also drove in a run.