Rockets, South Elgin, Huntley, CLS move on
As Brooke Porto anxiously waited for another turn at bat, the Burlington Central senior felt confident that it was only a matter of time before her team finally broke up the scoreless tie in the Class 3A Rosary softball regional title game in Aurora Saturday.
Twice before, in the third and fifth innings, the Rockets' No. 3 hitter had batted with runners on second and third. Twice she had watched Kaneland third baseman Sara Rose come up with a big play.
So when Porto stepped into the box with the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh, she was focused on what she needed to do.
"I've been struggling a little bit lately, and I was just hoping she would throw one inside to me," Porto said. "I felt like I needed to do my job out there.
Porto got that pitch she wanted and got the job done, as she turned on a fastball down the middle, and poked a liner over the pulled in infield and past Kaneland leftfielder Vickie Mathieu, scoring Katie Maleski with the game's only run.
"I told the girls that we'd been knocking on the door all day, and it was time to kick the door down and get a run in," Burlington Central coach Scot Sutherland said.
The win was the 24th in a row for Burlington Central, which has now won five straight regional titles, and boosted its season record to 32-1. The top-ranked Rockets will move on to the Rochelle sectional and play Freeport on Thursday at 4:30 p.m..
For their part, the Knights' fielders did just about everything they could do to keep their team in the game. Rose and shortstop Maggie Yagen turned in several defensive highlights when the Rockets had runners in scoring position.
"Our defense saved about three or four runs," Kaneland coach Dennis Hansen said. "I told the girls we did the best we could."
Kaneland pitcher Mallory Huml gave her team a chance to win the game by throwing strikes and trusting her defense.
"Mallory is not a flamethrower, but she did a great job, and kept them in check and off the board until that last inning," Hansen said. "It was just a great opponent and a pitcher who made things really tough."
Burlington Central's Mackenzie Scott was the pitching star of the game, fanning 14, and allowing just 1 hit, a sixth-inning bunt single by Huml.
"We just kept our composure, and everyone did their part," Scott said.
Scott, who allowed just two baserunners in the game, got stronger as she went along, despite dealing with a sore back.
"Every game is going to get tougher from here," Scott said. "We just have to keep playing like each game is our last one."
The Rockets' decisive at bat in the bottom of the seventh began with Maleski coaxing a walk. Kayla Oranger followed with an infield single and both runners advanced when Huml's attempt to get Oranger out resulted in a throwing error. When Brittany Priest was intentionally walked it loaded the bases and set the stage for Porto's heroics.
"A game like this usually comes down to something like that, but something freaky can happen to you too, then you're talking about all the missed opportunities," Sutherland said. "We're very fortunate, and very happy to still be playing next week."
Kaneland closed out its season with a 23-7 record.
South Elgin 9, DeKalb 0: South Elgin finally has some IHSA hardware to hang on the wall.
The Storm softball team earned the school's first regional championship, and plaque, Saturday by defeating DeKalb, 9-0, in the title game of the Class 4A Streamwood regional.
"It's crazy," Storm senior Rebecca French said. "I'm really proud of our team. I knew we could do it."
South Elgin, with its first senior class, used a dominating pitching performance from French and late-inning offense to advance to the Machesney Park Harlam sectional. The Storm (22-10) will play Rockford Boylan at 4 p.m. Wednesday in the sectional semifinals. Woodstock and Crystal Lake South play in the other semifinal on Thursday.
"I'm happy, don't get me wrong, but I just told them we've got a couple more games to go," Storm coach Jason Schaal said. "I don't want to be satisfied with the regional and be done."
French (12-5) struck out 6 of the first 7 batters she faced. She allowed only 2 hits and four baserunners. Kristen Roenfanz had a fourth-inning single and Lisa Oller had a seventh-inning double for the hits for the Barbs (17-12). French finished with 11 strikeouts.
French has 24 strikeouts and has allowed just 2 hits in 14 innings in two postseason games.
"I have a totally different mindset now. I don't know what it is," French said. "Maybe it's because I'm a senior and when I lose, I'm done."
Oller (13-6) kept the Storm off the scoreboard in the opening two innings, but South Elgin started to hit the ball hard the second, third and fourth times through the order.
Lauren Vitiello drove in Caitlin Stredde with a run-scoring single in the third to give the Storm a 1-0 lead. In the fourth, Katelyn Stonecipher's RBI single increase the lead to 2-0.
South Elgin broke the game open in the fifth. Stredde and Kim Pierce opened the inning with singles. After a sacrifice fly moved Stredde to third, Courtney Bosteder laid down a squeeze bunt to bring in Stredde. Layla Ismajlaj's RBI double and Tegan O'Connor's RBI sacrifice fly gave South Elgin a 5-0 lead.
"We normally have a rough couple of innings," said Pierce, a junior. "We learned (Oller's) pitches. She was throwing a lot inside. We just adjusted."
The Storm added four more runs in the sixth. Pierce, who went 3-for-4, drove in two with a single and later scored on a wild pitch. Vitiello also had an RBI double in the inning.
Stredde had 3 hits and scored three times for the Storm. Stonecipher, Vitiello and Ismajlaj each had 2 hits.
"One through nine we can hit the ball," Schaal said. "Once we got the timing on it, the bats started opening it up."
-- Brian Schaumburg
Glenbard North 3, Bartlett 2: Glenbard North's softball team had one word in mind during in its' regional final against Bartlett: believe.
The eighth-seeded Panthers (18-11) knew it wasn't favored to beat the top seed, but they believed long enough -- all 12 innings worth. In the 12th, it paid off. With runners on the corners with one out in a 2-2 game, Elisabeth Walter had 2 options: hitting for a base hit if the infield played in, or bunting if they played back.
She saw the Hawks (27-7) playing back, not ready for what was next.
Walter laid down the suicide squeeze to perfection, which couldn't find a glove down the first-base line, allowing Walter to reach base safely. Bri DiGioia, charging in from third, scored, gave North the lead and the Class 4A Bartlett regional championship in 12 innings, 3-2, which needed 36 outs, nearly 2 games worth to decide a winner.
"We were expecting balls to be hit on the ground, balls to be hit somewhere," said Bartlett coach Jim Wolfsmith. "She had to bunt in a good spot, and it was a hard hit play. We were expecting something else and going home with it."
"This was by far one of the best games I've ever been apart of. Both teams played excellent," Panthers coach Josh Sanew said. "Beautiful team win. Whenever we play together as a team, we're tough to beat. I am so proud of them."
Bartlett's Lauren Wydra started the game off with trouble. After walking leadoff hitter Hannah Santora, Amanda Cygan was hit by a pitch. Glenbard North, which will play West Chicago in the Schaumburg sectional Wednesday, then scored 2 runs on a throwing error that went wide of third on a force attempt. Despite the runs, Wydra no-hit Glenbard until the 10th, striking out 13 and walking one. Though Santora gave up a game-tying 2-run homer to Wydra in the third, she also went the distance, striking out 11.
"After that home run I really was mad," said Santora. "I knew Bartlett was a good team and I wanted to do well. We all kept our heads up."
A pitchers duel was on. The next scoring opportunity for either team came in the 10th when Bartlett's Callie Dennison doubled to left and Rachel Anello was hit by a pitch. But Santora induced a grounder to end the inning, squandering Bartlett's chance.
With no end in sight, DiGioia singled, leading of the 12th. Soon after, Alyssa Jasinski reached base on an error when she bunted DiGioia over to second. After a fielder's choice advanced DiGioia to third, Walter laid down the squeeze which no Hawk could field, down the first-base line, scoring DiGioia, putting North ahead for good. Santora pitched a 1-2-3 12th, sealing it.
"The word of the day was believe." Walter said. We had to believe in ourselves, we just had to do it."
"It was a great season. When they're done being sad they're going to look back on say what a great season we had and how much fun we had," said Wolfsmith.
Dennison and Nicole Beck both went 2-for-4 for the Hawks.
-- Steve Nichols
Huntley 3, Marian Central 1: Huntley rallied for 3 runs in the top of the seventh inning to beat Marian Central 3-1 and win the Class 3A Grayslake North regional.
The Red Raiders (23-10) will take on top-seeded Vernon Hills (28-4) Wednesday in the Richmond-Burton sectional.
Down 1-0 and three outs from elimination Saturday, Huntley staged a rally that started with a game-tying home run from Jenna Mychko. Deana DeBosschere then doubled and Amanda Wisniewski drove her home with a single to give Huntley the lead. After an Alex Robbins sacrifice bunt, Arianna Albanese's slap single brought home Wisniewski.
Sam Clemons pitched a 4-hit gem with 4 strikeouts and no walks for Huntley.
"This team just took the attitude that this game wasn't over until it was over," said Huntley coach Mark Petryniec. "They came in for the seventh inning and said 'we're not losing this.' "
Petryniec was especially impressed with Clemons' performance, her 20th win of the season.
"Sam was unbelievable today," said Petryniec, whose team won its second regional title in the last 3 years. "She had everything going today. (Marian) was off balance all day."
Heather Gradishar picthed equally as well for the Hurricanes with 8 strikeouts and no walks.
CL South 2, Prairie Ridge 0: Jessica Gable pitched a 2-hit shutout and Crystal Lake South scored 2 runs in the fifth inning on RBI hits by Lauren Swanson and Emily Mahoney to win their second straight regional title after a 19-year drought with a 2-0 win over Prairie Ridge.
"It was our best game of the season," Gators coach Scott Busam said. "It was a clean game with no errors. It was a real important win for our team and for program and for our school. Gable pitched her best game of the year by far."
Gable (10-11) struck out 10 Wolves while walking just one in a complete-game effort.
Pitcher Erika Trojan allowed just 5 hits for Prairie Ridge (21-12), but CL South (17-12) bunched three of them together in the fifth when the game was scoreless.
Gina DeFano singled and later scored on Swanson's RBI double. Mahoney then singled to send Swanson to the plate with a second run.
Crystal Lake South (17-12) will play Woodstock (17-16) at the Class 4A Harlem sectional on Thursday at 4 p.m.
The Gators took two out of three from the Blue Streaks this season, losing the first meeting 1-0 and winning the last two by scores of 3-2 and 4-1.