Softball: Huntley battles back to beat Jacobs
Jacobs began Saturday's Class 4A DeKalb softball regional championship deserving highlight-reel status.
However, Huntley did more than just respond in the bottom half batting around before the Red Raiders cruised to an 11-5 victory and a third straight regional plaque.
The win enables Huntley (28-6) to enjoy home-field advantage for Tuesday's 4:30 p.m. sectional semifinal against McHenry, a 2-0 winner over Grant in the Prairie Ridge regional. The Fox Valley Conference champion Red Raiders versus fellow league member McHenry fulfills the No. 1 and 2 seeding for the 10-school upper half of the Huntley sectional.
Jacobs (15-13-1), which lost to Huntley 5-4 and 10-0 in the regular season, had two outs before Alexis Addante, Emily Pena and Gabby Silva loaded the bases for Hannah Slocum's grand slam.
"It's my first and felt really nice. Even though I made solid contact you never assume and seeing it go over the fence was a real joy," Slocum said. "With that kind of start, I hoped we had the mojo going and could keep it up knowing Huntley would be ready to fight back."
Golden Eagles coach Katie O'Brien had the wisdom to curb her enthusiasm.
"For us to put four runs in the first against Huntley I was ecstatic, but I also knew that it wouldn't be enough. We had a lead on them once before," O'Brien stated. "I knew we needed to produce a lot more."
Unfortunately for Jacobs, it was Huntley that turned up the run production.
Tiffany Giese, who ultimately boosted her ledger to 26-5 as the winning pitcher, drew a walk, Caitlin Brown blooped the ball over third base, Rylie Porretto singled past the same bag and Sofia Tenuta began an impressive day at the plate with a double. Autumn Kasal got to second via a Jacobs error and then Teagen O'Rilley smacked another double. Kendra Mitchell singled as did Giese in her second at-bat of the inning that ended with Huntley claiming a 6-4 lead.
"Worried? I'd say your always concerned, how will you respond, it's the third time and Jacobs is a big hit team," veteran Huntley coach Mark Petryniec admitted. "But our them this year has been 'overcome adversity', meaning deal with the weather, an error, a bad call, or an opponent's big hit. Find a way to respond. I was still confident in our ability, but thought we'd have to chip away at it, so I suggested they get half of it back."
Actually the Red Raiders kept it going scoring a run in the second and two in the third to build a 9-4 advantage.
In the top of the fourth, Jacobs freshman phenom pitcher Savannah Svedman (15-13-1), blasted a ball over the center field fence to narrow the gap to four runs.
In the bottom of the fifth, Brown led off with a walk and advanced on a Porretto single prior to Tenuta smacking another double. Brown scored easily but Porretto was gunned down by Jacobs center fielder Kerri Healy, who caught a follow-up fly ball for a second out. But then came O'Rilley with another two-bagger to bring Tenuta home for an 11-5 score.
"I knew we could (rally), because we've always come back in other games," Tenuta said. "I was feeling confident all game and went up with the mindset of 'see it, track it and smack it.' Even if we were favored, we knew we still had to earn it. We can't be overconfident, but we also know this team is like a supportive family, always there for each other."
O'Rilley echoed those thoughts.
"A few times a hit feels amazing right off the bat, and a few times you have to hope it lands in the open. Today my swings felt right," O'Rilley noted. "It feels good to get a regional, but it also means we have to just stay focused and continue working hard."
It's also the sixth regional title in Petryniec's 14 seasons during which he's guided the Red Raiders to regional success initially in Class AA, then 3A, and now 4A play. This is also the 10th 20-win campaign in his tenure.
"This was a collective today from up and down the lineup," Petryniec insisted. "When you have someone like Kendra (Mitchell) go 4-for-4 in the nine hole, it's a huge help."
A Jacobs alum, O'Brien viewed her first regional title appearance as a coach to be a positive omen.
"We have a very young team, with one exception the entire infield was first-time varsity. So I definitely believe we can be back," said O'Brien, who took over from her former coach Jeremy Bauer. The Golden Eagles had a trio of regional trophies and a 2012 sectional under Bauer, who accumulated well over 200 wins before becoming the Jacobs athletic director.