Softball/Class 3A/4A Fox Valley postseason
Class 4A Rockford Guilford sectional
Regional hosts: McHenry, Machesney Park Harlem, Rockford Jefferson, South Elgin.
Top seeds: Cary-Grove (26-1), Hononegah (22-7), Jacobs (18-11), South Elgin (20-14).
McHenry regional: It won’t be a cakewalk for the top-ranked Trojans, but all things equal they should move on to Rockford and sectional play again. Cary-Grove will play the winner of Monday’s play-in game between 2-win Round Lake and McHenry (7-12) on Tuesday, with the other semifinal pitting No. 2 seed Prairie Ridge (22-6), the Fox Valley Conference Fox Division champ, against 10-18 Grant. Both Cary-Grove and PR won their division titles undefeated this season and the Trojans beat the Wolves 5-2 back in early April on the Lippold Park turf.
And Trojans’ coach Tammy Olson knows there’s a big Bull’s Eye on her team’s collective back after Cary-Grove made a run to the Elite Eight last year before losing to Elk Grove.
“I certainly feel like there’s a Bull’s Eye and we’ve talked about that all year,” said Olson, whose team’s only loss was to Elgin at the Prairie Ridge tournament. “Last year we were the unknown and we made our mark. Our girls realize they have a Bull’s Eye on their back. Everybody’s goal is to knock us off.”
The Trojans have been led all year by the continued phenomenal pitching of sophomore Lindsay Efflandt. The 2010 all-area co-captain is 22-1 this season with a 0.95 ERA. She has 208 strikeouts in 154 innings and is also hitting .364 with 6 home runs and 32 RBI.
Leadoff hitter Eleni Polites gets the Trojans going, hitting .527 with 16 RBI and 26 stolen bases. Taylor Dunne (. 452), Sara Markelonis (. 444), freshman Lisa Semro (. 398) and shortstop Emma Gaulke (. 389, 5 HRs, 28 RBI) are the other top hitters for a Cary-Grove team that is hitting .373 as a club.
One thing Olson’s not worried about is her team being complacent heading into the postseason.
“It’s one game at a time because we don’t want that game to be our last game,” she said. “I don’t feel like we’re complacent at all. They have to come to play every day and they realize that. You have to have your game every day.”
Longtime Prairie Ridge coach Mike Buck learned this week his team will be without standout catcher Lauren Seegers the rest of the season. Seegers suffered a tear of the meniscus in a knee earlier this week.
The McHenry regional title game has been rescheduled to 4:30 p.m. Friday due to graduation concerns.
Harlem regional: NIC-10 champion Hononegah (21-7) is the top seed at Harlem. Boylan Catholic is the No. 2 seed.
Jefferson regional: The Jefferson regional opens Monday when Dundee-Crown (2-22) hosts Jefferson in a play-in game to see who will play top seed Jacobs on Tuesday. Huntley (15-16) takes on Crystal Lake South (18-9) in the Wednesday semifinal and the winners return on Friday at 4:30 p.m. for the championship.
While Jacobs swept Dundee-Crown and Huntley and took 2 of 3 from CL South during the season, both the Red Raiders and Gators have the weapons to contend for the regional title.
Jacobs is led by seniors Kara Arceneaux (. 383, 19 RBI), Jenna Teson (. 384), Marissa Lombardo (. 329) and Kelsey Peterson (. 319, 24 RBI). Lombardo (10-5) has been steady in the circle for the Golden Eagles.
Huntley has relied on the offense of Kelsey Hagan, Randi Peterson and Angela Tribuzio, among others, while Dundee-Crown is led by juniors Melany Love and Amanda Eissler.
South Elgin regional: In what will likely be one of the most hotly contested regionals around, South Elgin is the top seed here, much to the chagrin of 27-3 DeKalb. According to published reports, DeKalb felt it should have had the No. 1 seed and one DeKalb County newspaper blog comes right out and says the Barbs will win the regional.
“I voted them No. 1,” deadpanned South Elgin coach Jason Schaal of the Barbs, referring to a seeding process in which you can’t vote for your own team.
Larkin (9-23) hosts Streamwood (3-24) in the Monday play-in game with the winner meeting South Elgin Tuesday. Larkin, led by senior Corinne Wimmer (. 516, 22 SBs), split its two meetings with Streamwood this season. The Royals will be without junior second baseman Lexi Smithberg (. 390), who is on restricted duty with a hand injury. Streamwood is led by senior shortstop Bri Bodjaewicz (. 400).
South Elgin has been a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde team this season, but if the good Mr. Hyde team shows up, South Elgin is awfully tough to beat. The Storm is led by junior right-hander Sam Bolin (15-11, .333, 29 RBI) and seniors Katelyn Stonecipher (. 402) and Shannon Conway (. 453, 20 RBI), as well as junior Sara Irving (. 405), sophomores Kara Rodriguez (. 339) and Victoria Watt (. 338) and freshmen Brittany Koss (. 341), Alyssa Buddle (. 337) and Taylor Rees (. 324).
“Sam is pitching well and if our defense does what it needs to do I’ll put us against anyone,” Schaal said.
Elgin (20-13), which has won 20 games for the first time since the Upstate Eight Conference championship team of 1999 went 21-9, gets a shot at redemption in the Wednesday semifinal against DeKalb and freshman phenom Katie Kowalski, who no-hit the Maroons in the first game of the season.
“Anytime you lose 5-0 and get no-hit you want another shot,” said Elgin coach Chad Dahlman, whose team won this regional last year. “Hopefully the outcome will be better this time.”
Elgin’s opponents know that if junior right-hander Hannah Perryman is on her game the Maroons can be awfully tough to beat, as they were earlier this week against Geneva when Perryman (10-4, 2.15 ERA, 177 Ks) had 17 strikeouts. But Elgin has been a better offensive team this season, thus the turnaround in record from 2010. Anna Eckholm (. 362), Monica Stockman (. 338), Hannah Perryman (. 326, 9 HRs, 34 RBI), Elizabeth Gorski (. 318), Kelly Bremer (. 321), Jaclyn Navarro (. 308) and freshman Jennah Perryman (. 298) lead an Elgin team hitting .294 as a club.
Dahlman believes this regional is wide open.
“There’s three real good teams in there, three 20-game winners,” he said. “I think it’s anyone’s regional. You just have to come to play.”
The championship game is scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday but Elgin and South Elgin officials have discussed moving it to Friday if those two schools advance due to Saturday graduation concerns.
Class 4A Schaumburg sectional
Regional hosts: Conant, Glenbard North, Proviso West, St. Charles East
Top seeds: Elk Grove, St. Charles North, Conant, Glenbard North
Outlook: Bartlett is the only northern Fox Valley area team in this sectional complex and the 13th-seeded Hawks (15-17) host No. 20 Willowbrook in Monday’s play-in game with the winner facing No. 4 seed Glenbard North on Tuesday.
The Hawks have been led all season by seniors Nicole Beck, Lisa Matsie and Jacki Gulczynski and junior pitcher Tori Burke.
This could be the toughest sectional in the state with Mid-Suburban League champion Conant, MSL runner-up Elk Grove and Upstate Eight River champ St. Charles North (25-2) all in the mix.
Advancement: The sectional winners from Guilford and Schaumburg meet in the second NIU supersectional on June 6.
Class 3A Grayslake Central sectional
Regional hosts: Vernon Hills, Grayslake North, Hampshire, Richmond-Burton
Top seeds: Antioch, Vernon Hills, Marengo, Grayslake North
Outlook: Hampshire (7-25) hosts Woodstock Monday in the play-in game of the Hampshire regional with the winner taking on Big Northern East champ Marengo on Tuesday.
Class 3A Rochelle sectional
Regional hosts: Yorkville, Belvidere North, Dixon, Kaneland
Top seeds: Yorkville, Belvidere North, Sterling, Burlington Central
Outlook: Burlington Central (16-15) is coming off an impressive 5-2 win over West Aurora Friday as it heads into Kaneland regional play as the top seed. The Rockets play Rochelle on Tuesday while the Wednesday semifinal pits No. 2 Sycamore (18-13) against Nl. 3 Kaneland (12-18).
Under first-year coach Cray Allen, the Rockets have been led by the hitting of junior Haley Albamonte, who is drawing Division I interest, and the pitching of freshman Rebecca Roscher.
Advancement: The sectional winners from Rochelle and Grayslake Central meet June 6 in the first supersectional at NIU.