Harm's walk off homer gives Larkin regional title
Instant classic.
Larkin and Dundee-Crown provided the area with one of the most dramatic regional championships in recent memory Saturday. Larkin's Scott Harm nailed a walk off home run off Chargers' pitcher Zach Vodicka (3-2) in the bottom of the seventh inning to give the Royals a 6-5 victory in their own Class 4A regional championship game.
"I knew he threw first pitch fastballs," said Harm, who hit his home run to right-center field on Vodicka's first pitch. "He left one over the middle of the plate."
Larkin, which last won a regional crown in 2007, now faces Rockton Hononegah, a 15-1 winner over Machesney Park Harlem Saturday, in a semifinal of the DeKalb sectional at 4 p.m. on Wednesday. The Royals (21-6) are hoping some aspects of Saturday's game remain at Larkin.
The teams took a 5-5 tie into the final inning, but Larkin starter Justin Kalusa had allowed just 1 earned run in 61/3 innings. Likewise, Dundee-Crown (8-24-1) starter Brendon Schumacher allowed only 2 earned runs in the 5-plus innings of work he put in.
Schumacher, in fact, accounted for Kalusa's lone earned run as he homered just over the center field wall to tie the game at 5-5 in the top of the sixth. Schumacher's shot, which just cleared the 365-foot fence, also scored Willy Larsen, who had reached base on an error.
The Chargers' other 3 runs were all scored as a result of a pair of errors and a passed ball in the second inning. Vodicka walked, followed by Chris Leifel reaching base on an infield error to put runners at second and third. Catcher Kirk Hanselmann reached base on another infield error and Vodicka scored. Leifel scored on a passed ball, with Hanselmann coming home on Nick Spangnola's RBI single.
"The last three games, Willy, Brendon and Chris have kept us in the games," Chargers' coach Jon Sawyer said. "They've come through when we really needed them."
Larkin scored its runs in a similar fashion. Reid Ellis came home on a D-C infield error in the fifth to break a 3-3 tie. Kalusa (2-for-3, 2B, RBI) also singled in Craig Wenzel, who advanced to second on the error.
Ellis scored on a wild pitch in the second and Alex Wahl crossed the plate on a balk call that tied the game at 3-3 for the Royals. Jon Meidel, who picked up the win by retiring all three D-C batters in the seventh, scored the first.
"We were nervous, especially in the first innings," Larkin coach Matt Esterino said. "We were trading runs with them."
Carlos Rojo finished 2-for-3 with a double and Wenzel was 2-for-3 with a run for the Royals.