First sectional title sweet for Kirker, Jacobs
When the magic carpet keeps flying in the right direction, there’s little need to change its course.
Jacobs’ magical season continued Saturday, as did the incredible postseason run of senior Golden Eagles right-hander Katie Kirker, and the next destination for the highflying Eagles is the Judson University supersectional in Elgin on Monday night.
Kirker scattered 5 hits and threw her third straight postseason shutout as Jacobs downed Carmel 7-0 to win the Class 4A Cary-Grove sectional championship. For the third straight game Kirker (6-1) didn’t walk a batter as she ran her scoreless streak to 25 consecutive innings. She struck out 8 as Jacobs won the first sectional championship in program history.
The Golden Eagles (25-14) will take on Elk Grove (30-8) Monday night with a trip to next weekend’s Final Four in East Peoria on the line. Two more wins by Jacobs and Bartlett would create an all-Fox Valley state championship game for the first time ever.
Monday’s game will be played on the field where Kirker will spend the next four years of her softball career.
“It’s so exciting, this being my senior year and we weren’t expected to do much,” said Kirker, who pitched in back-to-back games for the first time since last fall’s travel season. “It shows how much our team has come together and it just speaks a lot about our team and our perseverance.”
As the Eagles did in their semifinal win Friday over Hononegah, they scored early and then let Kirker do her thing. Jacobs plated 3 runs in each of the first two innings, more than enough for Kirker and the flawless defense behind her.
“I thought we were on her, we just couldn’t break through,” said Carmel coach Jason Raymond, whose team finished 19-19. “Usually this time of year the hot pitcher and the hot team advance and they have both right now, especially the pitcher. Routinely we score 8-9 runs a game so we never felt we were out of it but you have to give (Kirker) a lot of credit. She really kept us off balance.”
Kirker escaped Carmel’s best threat of the day in the top of the first. After striking out Kelley Dodge to start the game, Kirker hit the next two batters. A passed ball later, the Corsairs had runners at first and second with one out. But Kirker calmly struck out the next two hitters and Carmel never got a runner past second base the rest of the day.
“That was a tough situation to be in but I’ve been in tough situations before,” Kirker said. “I just had to battle through it and stay composed. God has given me this gift and I just play for Him. I know my ability and I knew I could do it.”
Jacobs got down to business right away off Carmel sophomore Nicole Bitter. Jacquelyn Hengler led off the bottom of the first getting hit with a pitch. Two Carmel errors later Hengler scored the game’s first run. Maggie Hansen’s RBI single drove in Alyssa Lach, who had reached on an error, and Kirker’s sacrifice fly plated Nicky Chapa, who had reached on a fielder’s choice, to make it 3-0.
The Eagles made it a 6-0 game in the second. Danielle O’Toole led off with a walk, Kaitlynn Woloszyk sacrificed her to second and with two outs Courtney Cotugno beat out an infield hit to extend the inning. Lach then drove a single up the middle to score O’Toole and Chapa’s 2-run single made it a 6-0 Jacobs lead.
“We put ourselves up early and that gave Katie the confidence to just pitch her game and she did a great job again. We’ve known this could be a possibility for a long time. It’s sweet to see her doing what we’ve known for three years now she can do.”
The Corsairs never had more than one baserunner in an inning until the seventh. Twice they had runners at second, including in the fourth when Madeline Felipez doubled with two outs, but Kirker never unraveled and kept Carmel off the scoreboard.
“We put ourselves in a hole the first two innings and (Jacobs) did a great job of coming out and getting ahead of us,” Raymond said. “That made it tough.”
Jacobs’ final run came in the sixth when Hansen’s pop fly scored Cotugno, who had singled, went to second on a walk to Lach (2-for-3) and third on Chapa’s sacrifice bunt.
“Our practice method has been to be aggressive early, get early runs and then just let Katie do the rest,” Bauer said.
Which she did again on Saturday.