Vernon Hills 2, Huntley 1
The star tattooed temporarily on Charlotte Hoffmann's hand was as clear as who the "star" was in Wednesday's extra-inning softball thriller at Richmond-Burton.
"Actually, everyone on the team has this," Hoffmann said. "It's henna. It's basically dye that dyes your skin for about two weeks.
"We have it for good luck."
Vernon Hills needed all the good fortune and skill it had to edge stubborn Huntley.
Hoffmann's opposite-field smash into right field scored Megan Kubacki from second base with two out in the bottom of the ninth, giving the top-seeded Cougars a 2-1 win to advance to Saturday's 11 a.m. Class 3A sectional final.
Vernon Hills (30-6) will play the winner of today's 4:30 p.m. game between No. 2 Marengo and No. 3 Johnsburg in a sectional playing out the way it was seeded.
Huntley pitcher Samantha Clemons allowed just 4 singles. The fifth-seeded Red Raiders (23-11) had twice as many hits, including 3 doubles.
"We dodged a lot of bullets," Cougars coach Paul Weber said. "They're a very good team. I think they hit the ball better than we did. We didn't do a real good job hitting their pitcher. She did a great job, and they had a lot of opportunities. We got some breaks."
Cougars pitcher Jackie Allen deserved credit, too. Two errors and a single by Clemons loaded the bases for Huntley with one out in the top of the fifth. But Allen got Deana DeBosschere -- who doubled her first two at-bats -- to pop out to catcher Adriana Longobardi, who made a diving stab in front of Huntley's dugout.
Allen then retired fifth-place hitter Amanda Wisniewski on a groundball, keeping the score 1-0 in Huntley's favor.
Huntley had another great scoring opportunity in the seventh with the score tied 1-1. An error, single by Alex Albanese and sacrifice bunt by Clemons put runners on second and third with one out. Once again, Allen wriggled out of trouble, getting Jenna Mychko (1-for-4, double) to ground out and DeBosschere to fly out.
"That's all you can ask for," DeBosschere said of the scoring chances. "Sometimes it just doesn't come through."
Vernon Hills' ninth-inning rally started when Anastasia Guletsky (1-for-3) drew a one-out walk. Kubacki -- whose single leading off the fifth was the first hit of Clemons -- then reached on a fielder's choice and stole second base with Hoffmann at the plate.
"It was 1-2 on the batter and two outs, so you don't have too much to lose (trying to steal)," Weber said. "Even if she gets thrown out, tie ballgame and you got a new batter up (the next inning). Charlotte's a good hitter. If (the count) was 2-1, I might not have done that."
Kubacki's steal put the attention on Hoffman, and she knew it.
"I was extremely nervous," Hoffmann said. "All I knew was I needed to get a base hit. A base hit would score a run and we would win this game. As soon as coach made Megan Kubacki steal second base, I was like, 'All right, I need to do this. This is my time to shine.' "
Hoffmann's second hit of the game bounced hard in front of the right fielder, who had the ball carom away from her. That allowed Kubacki to score easily. She also scored the Cougars' first run, on Erin Christensen's bases-loaded walk in the fifth.
"I just told them, 'Keep your heads up, ladies,' " Huntley coach Mark Petryniec said. "I go, 'You have nothing to be ashamed of in that game. We were playing the fourth-ranked team in the state (in Class 3A), the No. 1 seed in our sectional, and you went toe to toe with them for nine innings.' "
Huntley graduates only Amanda Omiatek and Shannon Ryan.
"(This season) is something to build on next year," said DeBosschere, who drove in Huntley's only run. "We're excited to come back next year and play together."