Barrington 4, Crystal Lake South 3
DeKALB -- Barrington's fifth straight trip to East Peoria was the result of an improbable ending in Monday's Class 4A softball supersectional at Northern Illinois University's Mary M. Bell Field.
The Fillies fell behind 3-1 in the top the 10th inning as a rare error by shortstop Michal Jane Maropis resulted in 2 runs.
But the veteran shortstop redeemed herself with a 2-run homer off the left field scoreboard with no outs in the bottom of the inning.
Four batters later, freshman Kiersten Tinkoff singled to right with one out, driving in winning pitcher Kim Cygan for a nerve-wracking 4-3 triumph in the supersectional hosted by Elgin.
"That is one of the most bizarre endings I've seen," said Barrington coach Perry Peterson. "I don't know how much I'll enjoy it. We just have to look ahead to our next game."
The next game will be at 7 p.m. Friday night in the 4A state semifinals, when the Fillies (30-6) meet Lake Park (33-4), which defeated Plainfield South 9-2 in the Lisle supersectional at Benedictine University.
As Maropis rounded third base, she had to brush away tears to make sure she stayed on a straight path to home plate.
"I didn't want to be the one to cost us from going downstate," said Maropis, still shedding tears after the Fillies secured their seventh trip to the state finals and eighth straight 30-win season. "I wanted to be the one to keep us alive in that last inning. I was (crying) because I knew my error didn't matter anymore."
Senior catcher Devinne Wapotish (2-for-3) was hit by a pitch just before Maropis' dramatic blast.
"Without Devinne getting on base, there is no 2-run homer," Peterson said. "M.J. (2-for-5) was down, I told her to quit crying and get to work.
"She was a determined young lady in a pressure point of the season. And she stepped up. She's just a great athlete, one of four finalists for our school's female athlete of the year."
As usual, Cygan (29-6) wiggled out of some tense situations and ended up striking out three in a 7-hitter.
She also made some terrific defensive plays, including an outstanding grab of cleanup hitter Becky Yaworski's line shot with the bases loaded and one out in the fifth.
"She (Cygan) wants to win so bad, it's scary," said Peterson, whose team had a 2-1 lead wiped out in the fourth when it was ruled his player left third too early on freshman Kristin Kuhn's fly to right with the bases loaded.
Barrington went ahead 1-0 in the third when Kuhn's double to left brought home senior second baseman Jessica McGurn with two outs.
McGurn (3-for-4) also had a big hit in the 10th.
Gators senior pitcher Jessica Gable (11-12) had gone 23 innings without giving up a run.
The Gators (19-14) tied the game in the fourth when No. 8 hitter Natalie Andrade singled and came home on an infield error with two outs.
"We knew this could have been real lopsided in favor of Barrington," said Gators fourth-year coach Scott Bumas. "We just told our girls Barrington was a high school team doing the same thing we were trying to do -- get downstate. They were just wearing different colored uniforms.
"At midseason, the opportunity presented itself for our girls to just give up and roll over. But these kids said 'enough is enough.'
"Jessica became a clutch pitcher for us and we started getting solid defense and timely hitting. Our young kids grew up real fast. And we played real well the last two weeks. That's how we got here."