Triple-play ending puts Grant in sectional final

Grant pitcher Jared Helmich needed three outs in the worst way possible.

He got all three on one play to pull off one of the most stunning playoff endings imaginable.

The Bulldogs held a 5-2 lead over Crystal Lake South in the bottom of the seventh inning of Friday’s Class 4A McHenry sectional semifinal, but the Gators were mounting a threat with the bases loaded and no outs.

CL South No. 7 hitter Jake Byron stepped up and smashed a low line drive back to the mound. Helmich instinctively reached for the ball, which went into his mitt and popped out momentarily. He recovered and snatched the bobbled ball out of the air for the first out.

The senior right-hander then quickly threw to first baseman Brent Spohr to double off a runner for out No. 2.

Spohr looked toward third base but didn’t have a play. Alertly, he stepped and fired to shortstop Jordan Villareal covering second base to double off another Gator before he could dive back safely.

Triple play.

And just like that it was over. Grant celebrated a 5-2 victory and a program milestone.

“No team in Grant history has ever gone to sectional finals so it’s pretty sweet,” Helmich said. “Especially to get there like that is even more unbelievable.”

The Gators went from hopeful to shocked in about five seconds.

“You’ll never see that happen again,” Byron said. “I hit it right off the barrel. I got a nice fastball to hit. It wasn’t in the cards. You’ve got to live with it.”

The victory advances Grant (23-11) to today’s sectional championship game against South Elgin (21-12). The game has been moved to 2 p.m. to accommodate Grant’s graduation.

Though Helmich’s seventh-inning escape was atypical, the fact he wiggled out of yet another jam was not. The senior admitted he didn’t have his best stuff after walking 7 and allowing 10 hits, but he managed to get outs when it mattered. He stranded 11 Gators on base, 7 in scoring position.

Crystal Lake South (28-10), which entered hitting .356 as a team, went 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position. The Gators loaded the bases in the first, third and seventh, but netted only 1 run from those situations. They scored on Nick Severino’s two-out single in the third inning and added a second run in the fifth, courtesy of Max Meitzler’s infield single.

Grant took control of the game in the second inning with a 5-run uprising against CL South ace Jordan Van Dyck (10-2), who had trouble throwing his normally reliable curveball for strikes. He issued a two-out walk to load the bases, and Grant’s Jake Ring followed with a single to right field to put the Bulldogs ahead 1-0.

Villareal followed with the big blow: a 3-run double to the left-field corner. “My second at-bat I focused on trying to get ahead in the count,” Villareal said. “He gave me a good pitch and I turned on it.”

Helmich capped the two-out rally with a sharp single to drive in Villareal for a 5-0 lead.

Pitching and defense kept the Bulldogs ahead until the end. Villareal and Jacob Adams turned a double play to end the fourth; Helmich (10-1) limited the damage after Meitzler’s fifth-inning RBI single by inducing two flyouts and notching a strikeout to maroon two baserunners; and catcher Lucas Simeon threw out a Gator trying to steal second base in the sixth inning.

Nevertheless, the game-ending triple play was understandably the topic of conversation after the game. Both coaches said they didn’t see the hard-hit ball off Byron’s bat until Helmich bobbled the line drive.

“I’m not seeing it as a coach so it’s tough for the runner,” CL South coach Brian Bogda said. “You can’t really get mad at them. (Helmich) made a nice play, stuck with it and then knew where to throw the ball. And our guys didn’t really know where (the ball) was at. What can you do? Sometimes a little luck plays into it too.”

Those in attendance will forever remember the improbable ending.

“You don’t see that too often,” Villareal said. “It was a shocker for me and a shocker for our team. That reaction was just ... I’m never going to forget it. It was great. I just threw my hands up. It was unbelievable.”