Softball: Barrington tops Huntley to cap superlative sectional

On a scale from 1 to 10, Barrington's softball teams earned a 10 at the Huntley Class 4A sectional this week.

And Fillies hall of fame coach Perry Peterson got the 10 he was looking for, too - on the scoreboard.

"Leading up to the sectional, Coach P said he wanted 20 runs in the sectional," said Fillies senior right fielder Rachel Krzysko. "Ten in one game and 10 in the other game. Apparently, we aim to please."

The Mid-Suburban League champs were indeed right on target.

Coming off a 10-3 triumph over Belvidere North in Wednesday's semifinal, the Fillies went beyond their goal on Saturday with a 13-2, seven-inning victory over the host Red Raiders in the championship game.

"I asked these kids to score 10 runs in each sectional game, and they did it," said Barrington coach Perry Peterson, who guided the Fillies to their 11th sectional title in program history. "To their credit, they scored 10 on Wednesday and 13 today so we've got to keep scoring runs, and keep hitting. Today, they didn't panic, and they just kept playing."

Barrington (35-3) will keep playing on its home field on Monday at 7 p.m. when it faces Warren (28-7) in the Fillies supersectional, a matchup scenario not all that unfamiliar to Krzysko.

She watched her sister Loren's Fillies defeat Warren in the 2013 sectional. And then as a freshman, Rachel's team lost to Warren in the 2014 Elite Eight game.

The two teams met this year in the Spring Fling in March when Barrington rallied for a 9-6 win.

The Fillies actually had to rally in their lopsided win on Saturday.

Huntley went ahead 2-0 in the bottom of the first on senior Rylie Porretto's one-out, 2-run homer over the left-center field fence.

But then Barrington ace Catherine McMahon (24-2) proceeded to take over.

The junior right-hander gave up only 2 more hits until she was relieved by sophomore Tori Meyer, who retired six of the seven batters she faced in the final two innings with 2 strikeouts.

"After that first inning, Catherine was on," said Barrington junior catcher Abbey Jacobsen, who brought the biggest cheers from the Barrington stands with her 3-run homer in the sixth inning. "She (McMahon) was hitting her spots every pitch, knocking down batters one by one. She did really well and then Tori came in and shut the door."

Meyer took the circle with an 8-2 lead, thanks to the Fillies' 4-run fourth and sixth innings.

"I felt no pressure because we had just scored a ton of runs," Meyer said. "All I had to do was go in and pitch how I knew I had been previously. And I know I have really great people surrounding me in the field."

RBI singles by Julia Kozar and Meyer tied the game at 2-2 in the fourth before Carly Kordich delivered the game-winning RBI with a base-loaded single up the middle to make it 3-2.

Krzysko's sacrifice fly to center got Leyden Atlas home from third base to make it 4-2.

Even though the Fillies didn't score in the fifth, they were still swinging the bats hard.

Red Raiders left fielder Kendra Mitchell made two standout catches to rob Haley Luczak and Kozar of hits for the final two outs.

But the Fillies weren't denied in the sixth, scoring 4 more runs capped by Jacobsen's 3-run blast with Atlas and Krzysko on base.

Jacobsen had grounded out three times going into her big at-bat.

"I wasn't really feeling 100 percent at the plate in the beginning," she said "But I was working it out with my coaches. I knew that pitch was coming and it felt good when I hit it. It was an inside fastball. It was pretty awesome hearing my team cheering from the dugout."

The cheering continued in the seventh inning when Barrington put up 5 runs.

The first five batters each hit safely (including a double by Kozar). Krzysko added another RBI sacrifice fly in the inning.

In all, the Fillies had 14 hits, including Meyer (3-for-4), Kordich (3-for-5), Luczak (2-for-4), Kozar (2-for-4), Atlas (2-for-3) and Kendall Peterson (1-for-2, two hit-by-pitches, 1 walk).

Huntley had two multiple hitters - senior Caitlin Brown (2-for-3) and junior Autumn Kasal (2-for-3).

The Red Raiders' other hit was Porretto's homer.

"What a great hit by Rylie to start us off," said junior shortstop Kasal. "We are going to miss our seniors. A lot of us will be back for next season and looking for good things."

Coach Mark Petryniec praised the Fillies.

"We've got to literally give our hats off to McMahon," he said. "She did a nice job, and that's what it takes. They played defense behind her. They had us played perfectly. On a couple of balls we hit, their center fielder (Kordich) was amazing. Balls just didn't drop our way today. We had a game plan coming. We were successful and it worked for about one inning.

"You want to try and avoid giving teams like Barrington the big innings. The wheels just fell off a little bit. But they're a big hitting lineup and we contained them for a little bit there. I'm sure they're going to go on a run here. They've been on a run all season."

The Red Raiders ended up 29-7 and pitcher Tiffany Giese finished a stellar junior campaign at 27-6.

"Every year this group of girls has set the bar and raised the stakes for the future of Huntley," Petryniec said. "They have nothing to hang their heads about - a 29-win season, back-to-back conference championships and our seniors (Porretto, Brown and Kateri Conklin) are leaving with three regional championships. I wish them nothing but good luck in college and we'll start working for next year."