Baseball: Crystal Lake South wins first sectional title since 1993
None of the Crystal Lake South baseball players were born the last time the Gators won a sectional baseball championship in 1993.
That long drought is over.
For the first time in 24 years, South is a sectional champion after a 6-2 win over Huntley in the championship game of the Class 4A McHenry sectional Saturday at Petersen Park.
"It has certainly been a process over the years,'' said Gators coach Brian Bogda. "We have had a lot of very good teams over the years. We had a very good team last year with a lot of underclassmen. We had high expectations for this season. This is very very special."
The Gators (33-5) play Mundelein in the Schaumburg supersectional Monday at Boomers Stadium. Game time is 7:30 p.m. Mundelein defeated Warren 8-1 to win the Glenbrook South sectional.
Kyle Lang, CL South's winning pitcher, gave up 2 runs while scattering 11 singles with 2 strikeouts and 0 walks in 7 innings. The Gator defense didn't commit an error behind Lang.
"I admit I was nervous before the game," said Lang. "I relaxed more as the game went on. My defense was great. They made all the plays."
South collected 9 hits while scoring 6 runs off four Huntley (32-7) pitchers.
After spotting Huntley a 1-0 lead after one inning on an RBI single by Adam Smylie, the Gators bounced back with a run in the second on a run-scoring single by Mike Swiatly to tie the score at 1-1.
South took the lead for good with 3 runs in the third off losing pitcher Nick Laxner. The key hits were an RBI single by Griffin Bright and a 2-RBI double from Brian Fuentes.
The victorious Gators tacked on single runs in the fifth on an RBI single by Noah Tyrell and a run in the seventh on a run-scoring double from Swiatly.
Bright, Fuentes and Swiatly collected 2 hits apiece for the winners.
"We had good approaches at the plate the whole game," said Bright. "That 3-run inning (third) when we took the lead really relaxed us. One of our goals was to win sectional. It is a great feeling.''
Fox Valley Conference champion Huntley, which was hampered by leaving 11 runners on base, scored its second run in the fifth on an RBI single from Matt Rodriguez.
Smylie led the Red Raiders with 3 hits while Joe Rizzo and Joe Boland delivered 2 hits each.
Huntley, which boasts a solid defense was hindered by 3 errors.
"We had some uncharacteristic errors which really hurt us," said Huntley coach Andy Jakubowski. "We swung the bats well but we just couldn't get the big hits. Hats off to South they have a great team. They were the better team today."
Jakubowski said goodbye to 14 seniors.
'This group of seniors won two regionals, a sectional and went to a summer final four," said Jakubowski. "One loss certainly won't tarnish their legacy. They have left their mark on this program."