Sectional tests loom for area's survivors
Four Fox Valley area softball teams remain in the hunt for a trip to the IHSA state finals as sectional action gets under way today in Class 3A and Class 4A.
South Elgin will kick off the area's pursuit of a state finals berth at 4 p.m. today when it takes on upstart Rockford Boylan in one semifinal of the Class 4A Machesney Park Harlem sectional, while Huntley travels to Richmond-Burton this afternoon to take on top-seeded Vernon Hills in a Class 3A semifinal.
On Thursday Burlington Central, the top ranked team in Class 3A, will face Freeport in one semi at the Rochelle sectional while Crystal Lake South will head to Harlem to take on Fox Valley Conference rival Woodstock.
Sectional finals are all scheduled for Saturday and supersectionals for next Monday.
Class 4A Harlem sectional: South Elgin (22-10) and Rockford Boylan (19-8) are not your usual sectional participants. The Storm, in its second year as a varsity program, win its first regional title last weekend, while Boylan is in a sectional for the first time since 1985.
"They're young and they like to run," said South Elgin coach Jason Schaal of the Titans. "Their pitcher is average to above average. She's no (Lauren) Wydra or Rebecca (French) but she hits the inside of the plate and she hits her spots well."
The Titans, who were 14-4 in the NIC-10 and tied for second place with Hononegah and Freeport, advanced by beating host Rockford Guilford in the regional final 3-0. Sophomore Kristin Kotis drove in all 3 runs in that win and sophomore Cammy Washington threw a 2-hitter with 8 strikeouts.
The Storm advanced by pounding on a pretty good pitcher in DeKalb's Lisa Oller, beating the Barbs 9-0 in the Streamwood regional final, scoring most of their runs after going through the batting order one time.
"That's kind of been our M.O. all year," said Schaal. "One time through the batting order and then our hitters do an excellent job of making the adjustments they need to make to be successful."
The South Elgin lineup that Washington will try to tame is potent. Junior Lauren Vitiello (.568) and junior Kim Pierce (.506) have led the way all year for a team that has a .315 team batting average. Vitiello and Pierce have 16 combined home runs for a team that has scored 186 runs this season.
In the circle, senior Rebecca French has returned from a sore arm to excel in the postseason. She carries a 12-5 record into today's game.
Schaal says his team will likely need to platy solid defense to beat a speedy Titans team today.
"We'll have to prepare for them to play small ball," he said. "They won a regional so they've done something right. We just have to get off the bus focused on coming back there Saturday to play for the sectional championship."
The other side of the bracket has familiar foes facing each other in FVC Valley counterparts South (16-13) and Woodstock (17-16), which is in a sectional for the first time since 2005.
"There are no secrets about this game," said South coach Scott Busam.
The Gators beat Woodstock twice this season in close games but lost to the Blue Streaks 1-0 in the only game of the three that Woodstock standout Taylor Schulty pitched. Schulty is now back from an injury and led the Streaks to the McHenry regional title with a 2-0 win over the hosts.
"Taylor Schulty is a competitor and we know what she brings," Busam said. "If we let her now us down it could be a long day for the Gators. We'll just try to score a couple of runs and hold them down as much as possible."
The Gators, who advanced by beating Prairie Ridge for the Jacobs regional title, their second straight, are led offensively by Becky Yaworski (.339) and junior Emily Mahoney (.320). In the circle, senior Jessica Gable is 10-11 for the season and won the regional final while Mahoney is 7-0.
The Harlem sectional winner advances to the NIU supersectional next Monday to face the Barrington sectional winner.
Class 3A Rochelle sectional: Burlington Central (32-1) is in a sectional for the fifth straight season but is looking for its first sectional win as a "big" school after losing to Lake Park in the semifinals the last two years. The Rockets are the No. 1 ranked team in Class 3A in the ICA statewide coaches poll.
The Rockets will meet Freeport, a team that finished 14-4 and tied for second in the NIC-10 this season.
"At this point of the year everybody's going to have a good pitcher and we know their pitcher is pretty good," said BC coach Scot Sutherland.
That Pretzel pitcher would be senior Heather Jurs, who no-hit Rockford Lutheran in the regional opener and then struck out 12 in a 2-0 regional final win over Belvidere.
But then, the Rockets have a couple of pretty good pitchers themselves in senior Erica Maisto (16-0, 0.18 ERA) and junior Mackenzie Scott (16-1, 200-plus strikeouts). Scott shut down Kaneland last Saturday when the Rockets used a big hit from senior Brooke Porto in the bottom of the seventh inning to win the Rosary regional title 1-0.
BC has been led offensively all year by junior shortstop and leadoff hitter Kayla Oranger, who is hitting better than .500, has over 60 hits, over 45 runs scored and over 40 stolen bases. Porto and junior first baseman Brittany Priest have also been hitting a ton lately.
"We just have to do what we do and take care of business," said Sutherland. "This is not something new to us; we've been here five years in a row, so there shouldn't be any nerves. It's just a matter of us taking care of our own house."
Today's game at Rochelle will pit LaSalle-Peru against Sterling and the sectional winner will advance to the ISU supersectional to face the Metamora sectional winner.
Class 3A Richmond sectional: Huntley (23-10) will try for another upset today when it takes on top seed Vernon Hills (29-6), which beat Richmond to win the Amundsen regional.
"They look like one of the better teams we'll face, said Huntley coach Mark Petryniec. "But on any given day anything can happen and that's the way we're approaching it."
One of those days was last Saturday when the Red Raiders upset Marian Central 3-1 to win the Grayslake North regional.
"Having only two seniors I thought we'd compete for our conference title and they just started to click at the right time," said Petryniec. "As a lower seed we've got nothing to lose. They're excited. They didn't expect to be playing at this time of the season so they just want to see how far they can take it."
The Red Raiders are led by junior catcher Jenna Mychko (.519, 4 HRs) and Deana DeBosschere (.358). In the circle, Sam Clemons has won an area-high 20 games.
Vernon Hills is led by three-year varsity pitcher Jackie Allen (18-3). Freshman Jessica Schwartz has hit 3 home runs since being called up late in the season.
The Thursday game at Richmond will pit Marengo against Johnsburg with the winners meeting Saturday for the right to advance to the Richmond supersectional against the Trinity sectional winner.