Softball: Huntley falls to hosts in Marengo tourney title game
Kylee Jensen has certainly been a mainstay behind the plate for Marengo for four years.
Her presence behind the plate and at the plate was evident Saturday in the championship game of the Marengo Tournament.
Jenson, a Northwestern recruit, smashed a 2-run homer in the fourth inning to help propel Marengo to a 4-2 win over Huntley. It was Marengo’s first title in its own tournament since 2011. This is the 16th year of the tournament.
"I am not sure what the pitch was that I hit for the homer," said Jensen. “I think it was a rise ball.This was a huge win for us."
With Jensen behind the plate, Jo Christiansen was solid in the circle. Christansen gave up 2 runs on 6 hits in seven innings to register the win. She struck out 1 with 4 walks with 2 walks in the seventh inning. Marengo made only 1 error in the game.
"Huntley is a super aggressive team," said Christiansen. “I wanted to keep them off balance and be effective. I totally trust my defense.”
Marengo coach Dwain Nance won his 603rd career game.
"We played a solid game," said Nance. “Kylee's homer was huge. I hate to see her leave after this year. She could have played for me in sixth grade. Huntley is a super aggressive team and Jo did a great job of throwing strikes and keeping them off balance."
Marengo (19-7) scored an unearned run in the second and added a run in the third on a sacrifice fly by Elle White.
Gabby Christopher collected 2 hits for the winners.
Huntley scored a run in the third on a run-scoring single by Aubrina Adamik, which scored Sadie Svendsen who had tripled.
The Red Raiders (16-9) tallied a run in the seventh on an RBI single from Isabella Boskey, who had 3 hits.
"The story of our season all season long is that we battle until the end," said Huntley coach Marc Petrynec. “Marengo came out on the positive side. Their pitcher (Christianson) was great. She kept us off balance."
ST. CHARLES EAST 13, JOLIET WEST 12
There wasn't any type of power outage for St. Charles East Saturday at the Marengo Tournament.
Scoring 27 runs in 3 games, the Saints finished 2-1 in the tournament.
The Saints (14-12) defeated Kaneland 8-2 and lost to Huntley 7-6 before capping the day with a 13-12 win over Joliet West in the third-place game.
"It was a grind today," said Saints coach Jared Gutesha. “We have played 8 games in 6 days. The focus wasn't there at the beginning of the day. But, we had enough to win the game."
Junior Hayden Sujack, who has committed to South Carolina, came up the game-winning RBI single in the seventh against Joliet West.
"They were pitching me outside and I was able to take the ball to right field," said Sujack. “I just wanted to make contact.”
Sujack, with a solo homer in the first inning, was 3-for-4 with 2 RBI and 2 runs scored.
St. Charles East, which banged out 15 hits, also got 3 hits from Addison Wolf (3 runs scored) and Caylee Higgins (2-run homer, 4 RBI, 2 runs scored).
Leighton Colley had 2 hits, a 2-run homer and 3 RBI for the winners.