Larkin gets last laugh with win over Elgin

The Larkin softball team got the last laugh in the city rivalry with Elgin.

The Royals lost both regular-season meetings, but ended the Maroons' season Wednesday with a 5-4 victory in the Class 4A Streamwood regional semifinals.

"This is the one that really matters," said Larkin's Megan Johnson, the winning pitcher. "We really concentrated and worked together."

No. 3 seed Larkin (7-21) will play top seed South Elgin (23-12) at 11 a.m. Saturday in the regional title game. The teams split two regular-season meetings.

"I've been to a lot of regionals and I told them, 'There's nothing like that Saturday championship. You're going to see a lot of people. It's going to be a lot of fun. You're going to want to experience that,' " Larkin coach Larry Hight said. "They played like this is it."

The Royals took a 1-0 first-inning lead when Victoria Nino drove home Nikki Banks, who led off the game with a walk. The hit was Nino's first "in about three weeks," according to Hight.

No 2. Elgin (9-22) tied the game in the bottom of the third on a run-scoring single from Jenna Jaynes, but the Maroons left two runners on base. A wild pitch allowed the Royals to retake the lead, 2-1, in the fourth.

The Maroons took a 4-2 lead in the fourth. Alyssa Higdon, who went 2-for-3, drove in a run and Caris Alan had a two-run single.

Nino cut the deficit to a run with an run-scoring double and then tied the game at 4-4 by scoring on another wild pitch. Nino went 2-for-3 with 2 RBI.

"My cousin (Mari Aguilera) is on Elgin. We've been calling each other all week," Nino said. "They beat us the last two times. It was pretty bad."

Larkin took the lead for good in the sixth. Anna Esterino led off the inning with a single and later scored on a groundout by Corinne Wimmer.

The Maroons went down in order against Johnson in the sixth and seventh.

"We ran ourselves out of a couple innings," Maroons coach Peg Corcoran said. "We should have scored more than four runs."

Johnson allowed 9 hits, walked two and struck out three for the victory.

Kelly Patchett suffered the loss in relief of Hannah Perryman for Elgin.