Monday's Fox Valley roundup
While the Jacobs softball team will still need some help if it is going to win the Fox Valley Conference Valley Division championship, the Golden Eagles did their part to stay in the race Monday by beating Crystal Lake South 8-1.
Jacobs (15-7, 8-3) trails Cary-Grove by 2 games with four division games left to play. The Eagles and Trojans meet Wednesday in Cary for the final time in the regular season. They have split the previous two encounters.
In Monday's win, Marissa Lombardo fired a 3-hitter for Jacobs, striking out eight and walking four. Sara Jacobson (3-for-4) and Ashley Morales (2-for-3) led the offense.
Liz Adams had a home run for the Gators (10-13, 3-8).
St. Edward 16, Walther Lutheran 2: Tarah McShane was 4-for-4 with 6 RBI and Kristina Brockner went 2-for-4 with 3 RBI as St. Edward (19-13) rolled to an easy nonconference win. Bre Medinger added 2 hits and 2 RBI for the Green Wave, while Kristi Knott, Taylor Lundquist, Sarah Field, Kali Kossakowski and Maddie Kerr each drove in single runs. Field, the winning pitcher, also had a double. In the circle she pitched 4 innings, allowed 3 hits, had 5 strikeouts and no walks.
McHenry 16, Dundee-Crown 5: Tiffany Rawlinson had 3 hits to lead Dundee-Crown (1-18, 0-11) in this Fox Valley (Valley) loss. Melany Love was the losing pitcher.
IMSA 6, Hampshire 0: Hampshire (6-18) had just 1 hit and made 5 errors in this nonconference loss. Jennifer Hurst was the losing pitcher.
College softball
Judson gets NCCAA bid: The Judson University softball team will head to West Palm Beach, Fla., this week to compete in the National Christian College Athletic Association national tournament. This is the third NCCAA nationals appearance for coach Becky Stenning's Eagles in the last four years. Judson (30-27) is the No. 7 seed in the tournament and will face No. 3 Indiana Wesleyan on Thursday.
MCC second in Region: The McHenry County College softball team, which started the season 0-8, finished second over the weekend at the NJCAA Region IV tournament in Freeport. The Scots' finish was their best since 2004. Included on the all-tournament team was Huntley graduate Sam Clemons. MCC finished the season 23-19 and was second in the Illinois Skyway Collegiate Conference with a 10-4 record. The team was coached by first-year head coach Howie Bierman, an Elgin resident.