Huntley beats McHenry for first time in 4 years

Megan Baczewski realized it was the first time in her varsity career Huntley had defeated McHenry.

Veteran Red Raider coach Mark Petryniec doesn't remember the last time a softball team of his beat McHenry, which was actually on May 5, 2011.

Baczewski's RBI single in the seventh inning proved to be the game-winning hit as the Red Raiders celebrated a 9-8 win over the host Warriors in Fox Valley Conference Valley Division action Tuesday afternoon.

The game, which lasted 2½ hours was played in winds which gusted to 50 miles per hour.

"This is an awesome feeling," said Baczewski. "We have lost some tough games to McHenry over the last three years. We knew with the way the winds were we had to keep scoring."

Petryniec was happy with his team's approach at the plate.

"Our approach at the plate was to simply put the ball in play," said the Huntley coach. "We did a good job of putting pressure on their defense. We knew the way McHenry can score runs we had to keep scoring. It was a great win."

Huntley (10-3, 1-1), which never trailed in the game, started fast with 3 unearned runs in the first.

McHenry bounced back with 2 in the first on a 2-RBI single by Amanda Manssen.

Huntley, which left 13 runners on base, added 2 runs in the fourth keyed by an RBI single from Hayley O'Mara and 3 in the fifth on RBI singles by O' Mara and Jessica Shields and a run-scoring double from Haley Spannraft. All the runs came off losing pitcher Kristin Koepke, who is headed to Division I Evansville.

The Red Raiders led 8-2 after 4 ½ innings.

The Warriors battled back with 3 in the fifth spearheaded by a run-scoring triple by Carly Mattson.

McHenry cut the Red Raiders' lead to 8-7 with 2 in the sixth on an RBI single by Erika Breidenbach and a run-scoring triple by Mattson.

Baczewski's RBI single in the seventh gave the Red Raiders an important insurance run.

McHenry cut the lead to 9-8 in the seventh on an RBI single from Hannah Crowley.

Kateri Conklin, who registered the win, induced McHenry's Maggie Wiegman to hit a comebacker to the pitchers circle for the final out.

"Kateri did a great job," said Petryniec. "McHenry is a good hitting team. They are going to score some runs. Kateri got the key outs when she needed to."

Megan Larson paced Huntley with 3 hits, 3 runs scored and an RBI.