Baseball: McHenry rallies past South Elgin
Super reliever, super steady Zach Readdy has been in and out of the McHenry lineup this baseball season. Monday night, he almost took a pitch out of a minor league ballpark.
Readdy delivered a pair of two-out, two-run hits, Kaden Wasniewski finished with two exciting innings in his first mound appearance in more than six weeks, and McHenry rallied to beat South Elgin 8-6 in the Class 4A Kane County Cougars supersectional at Northwestern Medicine Field in Geneva.
“It was awesome,” Readdy said after the Warriors erased an early 4-0 deficit to hike their school-record win total to 35. “Nothing like it.”
McHenry (35-4-1) has another chance to experience thrills when it plays Brother Rice in a state semifinal at 7 p.m. Friday at Slammers Stadium in Joliet. McHenry finished fourth in Class 4A in 2022, its first and only appearance at state.
The game marked the final one for South Elgin’s Jim Kating, who’s been the only head coach for the Storm since the program’s initial season in 2007. The Storm finished third in Class 4A in 2014, its only appearance at state.
“We played well, we battled to the end, and I’m very proud of my kids of how they came out,” said Kating, whose team was the No. 4 seed in its sectional. “We had nothing to lose. We weren’t supposed to be anywhere close to where (McHenry) is at.”
South Elgin (25-11) jumped out to an early lead, scoring four runs in the second. Ninth hitter Nathan Kmiec delivered a two-out, two-run single for the game’s first runs.
McHenry got three runs back in the third, with Readdy’s two-run triple the big blow. He pulled a fastball deep to right field, and the ball bounced off the wall.
He does not have a home run this season.
“It was in on my hands,” said Readdy, a St. Xavier commit. “I got a little jammed, but I just muscled it out there. It almost went.”
Readdy delivered again in the sixth, lining a go-ahead, two-run double with two out into left-center field to make the score 7-5 in favor of the Warriors.
“I was sitting curveball and I just reacted to it,” said Readdy, who hit another fastball. “I was on it, and I put it the other way. It was outside and I went with it.”
“Really clutch,” said Wasniewski, who was on base three times with a hit by pitch, walk and single. “He’s not been in the lineup (consistently) all year, but he really came through for us today.”
The sophomore Wasniewski earned the save for Scotty Cole, who pitched 3⅓ innings in relief of starter Bryson Elbrecht. Wasniewski walked one but struck out the side in a scoreless sixth with McHenry leading 7-5.
In the seventh, he allowed a leadoff double to Jake Sparacino and then an RBI single to Jacob Robertson. But Wasniewski got a ground out and back-to-back fly outs to center fielder Carver Cohn to end it.
“It’s so fun to watch him pitch,” Readdy said. “Everything he has is gross. He throws hard. Can’t ask for anything more.”
Wasniewski last pitched in a game April 24. The Warriors then shut down the hard-throwing righty because his shoulder was bothering him.
In warmups Monday, he hit 95 mph on the stadium radar gun. He started his second game in a row at third base after being relegated to designated-hitter duties the past month.
“It feels really good, really fresh,” Wasniewski said of his arm. “I pretty much knew that once I got in, my arm would feel great.”