Mundelein 3, Lake Zurich 1
The North Suburban Conference softball champs won't have a long postseason run.
At Lake Zurich, 14th-seeded Mundelein pulled off the stunner, knocking off the host Bears 3-1 in the teams' regional semifinal Tuesday.
Leslie Harshey pitched a complete-game 3-hitter to best Bears ace Katie Buczynski.
No. 3 Lake Zurich ended its season at 24-5. The Bears swept a doubleheader from the Mustangs by the scores of 14-6 and 3-0 on April 19.
Mundelein (9-19) advances to Saturday's 11 a.m. regional final at Lake Zurich against the winner of today's game between No. 6 Warren and No. 12 Carmel.
Palatine 6, Grant 1: Palatine's Anne Wcislo knew what she needed to do in order to be successful on Tuesday.
"From the get-go, I have to stay focused on each pitch," Wcislo said.
"I'm one of those girls who likes to let her mind wander. Coach (Jeff Manz) came to me each inning and the girls were always there to keep me on track, and I think that's what I did to stay focused during the game. I got the pitches that I needed."
Wcislo not only stayed focused, she dominated to lead Palatine past Grant 6-1 in the semifinals of the Class 4A softball regional at Libertyville.
Fourth-seeded Palatine, which has won four regional championships in a row, will try to make it five in a row Saturday at 11 a.m., when it plays the winner of today's game between No. 5 Stevenson and No. 10 Libertyville.
After walking the first batter of the game, Wcislo (15-5) held No. 13 Grant hitless until two outs in the top of the seventh.
C.J. Hill broke the hitless streak with a bloop single just past first base.
Brianna Brugioni singled and Amanda Villagomez singled in Brugioni to break the shutout.
"Wcislo did a pretty nice job of working ahead of the batters," said Manz, whose Pirates are 19 8 and have won 15 of 17. "She was hitting her spots real well and I thought we played some real good defense behind her.
"Obviously our goal is to win the regional and we've had a lot of success the last four years."
Palatine scored its first run in the third inning as Steph Roto tripled to the right-field fence and Kelsey Griffin drove her home on a sacrifice fly.
In the fifth, the Pirates sent 9 batters to the plate to score 5 runs on 5 hits.
Katie Mnichowski singled in a run, Griffin (3 RBI) slammed a 2-run double, Caitlin Carpenter hit a sacrifice fly, and Joanne Jablonski singled in a run.
Heather Ruetsche pitched a complete game for Grant.
"They made the plays and we didn't make some plays in one inning," Grant coach Mike Dolezal said. "(Wcislo) kept our hitters off balance. We were hitting her but didn't hit the right spots"
-- Irv Solomon
Johnsburg 6, Grayslake C. 1: At Antioch, after giving up 1 run on 2 hits in the first inning, Skyhawks pitcher Darcy Tegtmeier allowed only 1 more hit and struck out 10 over the remaining six innings.
No. 3 Johnsburg moves onto Saturday's 10 a.m. Class 3A regional final against the winner of today's game between No. 6 Antioch and No. 12 St. Scholastica..
Alyssa Popp (2-for-4, 2 runs), Amanda Daley (2-for-3, run) and Jordon Hauck (2-for-3, run) led the Skyhawks.
Kelly Silver scored Grayslake Central's lone run.
Marian Central 3, Regina 1: At Grayslake North, the fourth-seeded Hurricanes advanced to Saturday's 10 a.m. Class 3A regional final against the winner of today's game between No. 5 Huntley and No. 10 Grayslake North.