Schaumburg’s run continues

Schaumburg’s Killer B’s fueled a grade-A performance in Saturday’s Class 4A baseball sectional championship game.

Everyone ultimately joined in the fun started by seniors Thomas Byrne, Matt Brancato, Patrick Bellinger and Colin Bethran as the 10th-seeded Saxons continued their dramatic late-season run.

The Saxons won their fifth sectional title for retiring coach Paul Groot by stinging 13th-seeded Willowbrook with 7 extra-base hits in an 11-1 victory in 6 innings at Schaumburg Stadium.

“We all knew we were going to hit a run sometime,” the Benedictine-bound Byrne said after going 3-for-4. “Luckily it’s come at the right time. We knew we were good enough to do this.”

Schaumburg (25-13) won its seventh straight game and has allowed only 22 runs in winning 12 of its last 13 to advance to Monday’s 7 p.m. Rockford supersectional at RiverHawks Stadium. Junior left-hander Max Paolicchi (6-3) will start against Grant (24-11), which beat South Elgin 12-11 to win the McHenry sectional

“It’s a great group of kids,” Groot said with a smile. “They won’t let me quit.”

The Evansville-bound Bellinger (9-4) threw a 3-hitter with 8 strikeouts and 3 walks. Brancato went 3-for-3 with 2 doubles and a triple and Bethran’s 2-run triple put Schaumburg ahead to stay in a 3-run first.

“Pitching and defense, that’s all coach Groot preaches,” Bellinger said after throwing 62 of his 98 pitches for strikes in his third postseason victory. “That’s what we’ve been doing. If we get our hitting with our pitching and defense we’re a tough team to beat.”

Schaumburg followed a familiar script by falling behind for the fourth straight postseason game. Willowbrook (23-16), which came in with an 8-game winning streak and was trying to win its first sectional in 39 years, got a two-out RBI single from catcher Kurt Gitchell (2-for-3).

Byrne got Schaumburg rolling by lining the first pitch from Alex Tiberi (8-3) to right for a single. Brancato doubled to deep right with one out but Byrne was caught in a rundown when Jack Holden grounded to Tiberi.

Byrne broke for home and the plate umpire ruled he stayed within the allowable 3 feet of the baseline as he eluded Gitchell’s tag. Bethran lined the next pitch to to the fence in right-center for a 2-run triple.

“I was really looking to go middle-away,” Bethran said. “At the beginning of the season I was hot but I got into a little bit of a slump.

“I’ve picked it back up and I got a good hold of one. It’s a deep park so I knew I had three.”

Tiberi settled down for the next three innings but Grubb started a 5-run fifth with a double. Brancato and Holden followed with back-to-back triples to the fence in center to knock out Tiberi.

“I’ve been able to see it out of every pitcher’s hand so far,” Brancato said. “Hopefully it continues.”

Pinch hitter Chris Carlson’s RBI groundout, Jeremy Hall’s RBI double and Kedric Daly’s RBI single made it 8-1.

“Everything we threw up there they hit,” said Willowbrook coach Vic Wisner, whose team had allowed only 3 runs in its first 3 postseason wins. “If we had bounced it up there they would have hit it.

“That shocked us a little bit, giving up three (in the first). No one has hit the ball off our starter like that ever. Give them credit, they worked the ball away and had a great approach today.”

It continued in the sixth as Brancato doubled, Hall had a 2-run single and Joe Petritis started a wild celebration when he grounded an RBI single to left.

“We’re definitely playing our best baseball at the right time,” Bellinger said.

“Our bats are hot, our defense is hot and our pitching is hot,” Bethran said. “As long as we hit the ball we can keep rolling.”