A heartbreaking sectional loss for Huntley

Back and forth they went. Huntley took a lead, Hononegah tied it. Huntley took another lead, Hononegah tied it again. Hononegah took a lead, Huntley tied it.

Then came the fateful bottom of the seventh inning.

A throwing error helped the winning run move from first to second base, and Hononegah sophomore cleanup hitter Nicki Ervin ripped a 1-0 Sam Clemons pitch down the left field line to score Holly Zinnecker with the winning run as the Indians handed Huntley a heartbreaking 4-3 loss in the semifinals of the Class 4A Woodstock sectional at Bates Park.

Hononegah (28-9) will take on Prairie Ridge (32-6) at 10 a.m. Saturday for the sectional title and the right to advance to Monday's Barrington supersectional against either Barrington or Fremd. Huntley, which lost in the sectional semis for the third straight year, finishes the season 24-13.

"It's just hard to say it's over," said Clemons, the Huntley senior pitcher who won 72 games in her career and finished 23-11 this season. "We put it all on the field and that's all I can ask. I wasn't all on today but they gave it everything they had behind me and that's all I can ask for."

Huntley grabbed a 1-0 lead in the top of the first as Deana DeBoscherre's sacrifice fly scored Sarah Clancy, who hit the first pitch of the game to left-center for a double. Hononegah came back to tie in the top of the second when winning pitcher Sami Taylor dumped an RBI single into right to score Amanda Gill, who had led off with a single and stole second.

The Red Raiders regained the lead in the third when Clancy led off with a single, went to third on a Clemons single and then scored when Clemons got herself in a rundown between first and second.

The Indians tied it again in the bottom of the inning, using an RBI single from Gill to score Shauna Heller, who had singled and gone to second on an outfield error. Hononegah then took its first lead of the game when Taylor was hit by a pitch with one out in the fourth. After being sacrificed to second, she scored on Erica Carrington's bloop single to right with two outs.

But Huntley came back and tied it 3-3 in the bottom of the fifth as Clemons singled, went to second on a wild pitch and scored on DeBoscherre's single to left.

The game stayed tied until the bottom of the seventh. Zinnecker led off with a single and went to second when Huntley made an error trying to pick her off first. She then scored the winning run on Ervin's clean shot down the left field line, which was scored as a walk off double.

"It was the second pitch and I was just trying to get all the way around and make contact," Ervin said. "I was just trying to put the ball in play."

For Huntley it was a disappointing end to a season in which the Raiders had hoped to get another crack at Fox Valley Conference Fox Division rival Prairie Ridge, this time with a trip to the Elite Eight on the line.

"It's starting to become a repeat," said Huntley coach Mark Petryniec of losing in the sectional semifinals. "We squeezed ourselves defensively out of some situations today, but hats off to Hononegah today. They did what they had to do. They're fundamentally sound."

Petryniec and Huntley will say goodbye to Clemons, DeBoscherre, Clancy and Alex Albanese, four seniors who won three regionals and a conference title in their Red Raider careers.

"I brought them up as freshmen and I can't say enough about what they've done," Petryniec said. "Before that Huntley struggled to win 10 games in a season and those four have won 20 or more four years in a row. You just can't say enough about what those four have done. They've put Huntley softball on the map."