Softball: Finkel, Warren earn return to supersectional

When she was a freshman at Warren four years ago, Sarah Finkel watched the varsity softball team win the softball supersectional at Barrington High School.

"I was hoping that I could be part of something like that one day," she said. "I can't believe we did it and we're going now."

And Finkel is a big reason the Blue Devils will be making their first appearance in the Elite Eight since winning the Class 4A state crown in 2014.

The senior third baseman and clean-up hitter's 2-run homer in the fourth inning broke a 5-5 tie and ignited a 6-run rally which turned the game in No. 2-seeded Warren's favor en route to a 13-5 triumph over No. 1 Libertyville (29-6) in the New Trier Class 4A sectional final on Friday at Duke Childs Fields in Winnetka.

The Blue Devils (28-7) will head back to the Barrington supersectional on Monday night and face the winner of today's Huntley sectional championship between Barrington and the host Red Raiders.

"It feels great," said Finkel, a North Central recruit who also had a double and stole home in the fifth inning. "It's such an honor."

Finkel made it happen with her offense the whole game, going 4-for-5 with 3 RBI.

"That kind of set the tone for us to keep hitting," Finkel said of third homer of the season. "Sometimes one hit like that and you starting stringing the hits together. That got us going. Caitlyn's (Britton) pitching helped us and our defense was solid."

Britton improved to 22-3 with the win. The right-handed sophomore did not give up a run after the third inning and finished with 3 strikeouts.

"I just had to keep going," she said. "I said, 'This is a game where we need to focus and we need to do out best.'

"I feel like in a lot of games I struggled a little bit early but I tell myself I'm coming back faster and faster and better and better. And that helps a lot when you get deeper in games."

The Blue Devils finished with 15 hits, as leadoff batter Emily Hudgins also went 4-for 5 with a pair of doubles.

"When someone puts up a big hit like Sarah did, that gets the momentum going and the team moving," said Hudgins, who will be moving on to play for Penn State next season. "Everyone is upbeat and it gets the bats alive when someone comes through like Sarah did."

Junior Claire Swedberg, also a Penn State recruit, Britton and sophomore Erika Jiminez all came through with 2 hits while sophomore Kayla Nommensen and classmate Ashlynn Kitter each had one for the Blue Devils.

"This feels amazing," Swedberg said of the Blue Devils' fourth sectional championship in program history. "But this is exactly what we expected. We were confident."

Libertyville kept its confidence throughout the game despite falling behind by 8 runs by the sixth inning.

The Wildcats produced 2 hits in the seventh inning but first baseman Nommensen turned an unassisted double play when she caught a line drove by Lyndsey Lyon and she made the game's final putout on a grounder.

"I think we did a really good staying energetic every single inning," said Wildcats coach Elissa Wisniewski, who used senior Hannah Heraty (25-6), junior Lauren Heraty and junior Franny Quenan on the mound. "I'm incredibly proud of how they fought all the way to the end."

Libertyville senior center fielder Kenzie Rother made two all-out diving catches to rob Swedberg and Jiminez of hits.

She and Quenan also went 2-for-3 at the plate while Sarah Hilldale, Hannah Heraty, Lauren Heraty, Lyon, Maggie Evers and Emily Hilldale each had 1 hit.

"There were bounces that didn't go our way," said Wisniewski, whose team hit the program's single-season school mark of 29 wins for the second straight year. "There were balls that dropped in on us, and some slow balls that they beat out.

"If we make some of those plays, we could have turned things around. But I'm really proud of how they came out and fought all the way. We're going in the right direction. We have some great seniors we are going to miss next year but they did an incredible job teaching our underclassmen how to represent our program."

Warren will represent Lake County in the Class 4A Elite Eight, coming off two sectional games in which they put together 6-run bottom-of-the-fourth innings.

"Six is our lucky number, I guess," said smiling third-year coach Jenna Charbonneau, a former Blue Devils standout and an assistant for the 2014 state championship team. "It was a real team effort. We hit the ball well and Caitlyn threw it well."

Even with the 11-5 lead after four innings, Charbonneau was not about to let her team relax.

"They (Libertyville) were hitting, too," she said. "Even though we got up on them we had to keep scoring every inning. They're a great defensive team, and a great offensive team. We knew they wouldn't back down so we had to come out every inning playing quality defense and having quality at-bats."

And Finkel had the at-bat of her career with no outs in the fourth inning after Britton led off by reaching on an error.

"This is such an amazing group," Finkel added. "We all get along so well and have such great chemistry and our coaches help us with everything."