Softball: Huntley's dominance in FVC continues
So much for the slump Huntley's Sofia Tefuna has been mired in lately.
The sophomore slugger broke out in a big way on Friday with a double, a homer, and 3 RBI in the Red Raiders' 9-5 Fox Valley Conference softball win at Dundee-Crown. Huntley (18-4, 10-0) has now won 14 straight games.
"I've been getting a lot of support during my slump with my teammates cheering me on," Tenuta said. "I've been making contact, but I just haven't been hitting the ball very hard. I went up there today just looking for pitches I could drive."
Tenuta certainly found a pitch she could drive to the opposite field in the second inning when she deposited a line shot over the right-center field fence for a solo home run and the Red Raiders' first run of the game.
In the third inning Tenuta turned on a pitch and lifted a high fly ball off the left-center field fence for a 2-run triple.
Both hits came off D-C starter Sydney Ruggles, who has been one of the better pitchers in the FVC this season.
"She's a really good pitcher," Tenuta said. "I love the challenge of going up against her because it makes you a better player when you face good pitching. I've faced her before and I knew she has a really good riseball, so I was trying to lay off any high pitches. I got a couple down in the zone that I could hit."
After Tenuta's homer in the first Autumn Kasal followed with a double and scored on an RBI single from Taylor Pacana to make it 2-0 Huntley.
Kasal added an RBI single in the third inning and Rylie Porretto ripped a 2-run single in the fourth to extend the Red Raiders' lead to 7-0.
After the Chargers rallied to within 7-4, the Red Raiders added a pair of insurance runs in the seventh inning with Pacana driving in her second run of the game on a single and the other scoring on an error.
"The offense has been really steady lately and we've been scoring runs," Huntley coach Mark Petryniec said. "We are getting quality swings up there. We have faced their pitcher a few times now in the last couple years and you start looking for tendencies and we were trying to stay off her riseball. Fortunately it was a little smaller zone being called today and that helped us out and let us just look for more pitches to hit."
Tiffany Giese pitched a complete game for the Red Raiders to get the win and improve her record to 16-4.
The Chargers hit the ball pretty well themselves with 8 hits off Giese. Kayla Sjojdin had an RBI double in the fourth inning. Claire Weeks added a 2-run single in the fifth inning and Deanna Origer had 2 RBI on a groundball and a sacrifice fly.
"Their pitcher is tough, so to get 8 hits off her is almost a victory in itself," D-C coach Tracy Beatty said. "I can't be disappointed at all with the way we played. We fought hard the whole way against a very good team."