Victory eludes Huntley as St. Rita wins in 7th

Good pitches don't always result in outs at the state finals.

With the bases loaded in a 6-6 game in the bottom of the seventh, Huntley senior pitcher Chris Klein made what he considered a good pitch, an offering on the outside corner that would have retired most right-handed hitters on a weak groundball to the right side.

But St. Rita leadoff man Zach Soria reached out and drove Klein's 2-1 offering down the right-field line just fair, scoring pinch runner Dan Petrbok with the winning run for a 7-6 Mustangs victory in a Class 4A state semifinal at Silver Cross Field in Joliet on Friday.

"I hit my spot, the kid just took the ball the way it should have gone," Klein said. "That whole team was a quality hitting team, so it wasn't a miracle hit or anything. It went the way it went.

"We all tried our best. I'm glad it was a close game because we really showed everybody that we weren't really the underdogs in the tournament."

Everyone clad in Huntley red and white watched the flight of Soria's hit intently, hoping to no avail it would drop foul.

"They say this game is a game of inches," Huntley coach Andy Jakubowski said. "A couple of inches to the right and it's a foul ball and we may still be playing in the eighth inning. My kids left their hearts and souls out on that field, and that's all a coach can ever ask for. Guys gave us everything that they had and tried to put us in a position to be in the championship game.

"Now we're going to set our sights on being one of the only four teams here that are going to win their last game of the year."

Huntley (29-10) will play for the third-place trophy against Stevenson (34-4) today at 3 p.m. St. Rita (32-9), the 2009 runner-up, will square off for the title against Naperville Central (37-4) immediately afterward.

The Red Raiders jumped to a 4-0 lead in the first inning against St. Rita left-hander Joe Filomeno, a lefty who hit 91 mph on the gun but had trouble finding his control early. Huntley showed patience as Andre Sopena drew a walk against the junior, and lefty Carlos Alvarez followed by pushing a bunt past him. Filomeno caught up to the rolling bunt and tried to flip it to first base, but his toss was high and went for an error, putting runners and second and third.

Klein drove in the first run of the game with a bloop single to right field, scoring Sopena. Catcher Phil Pupillo advanced the runners with a sacrifice bunt, and Tom Crohan was hit by a Filomeno pitch to load the bases with one out.

Freshman Bryce Only patiently drew a walk to give Huntley a 2-0 lead, and fellow freshman Colin Lyman laced a 3-2 pitch the opposite way to left to score Crohan with the third run. Zach Staab, down 0-1 in the count, was hit by a curveball to force in a another run, making it 4-0 in favor of the Red Raiders.

"We gave up four in the first but it was early," said St. Rita coach Mike Zunica, who admitted he probably would have lifted Filomeno after one more basehit or walk. "We felt if we chipped away and chipped away and really believed we could come back we would."

St. Rita started chipping in the bottom of the first. Sean Payton reached on a two-out error when the ball ate up Crohan at first base, and Filomeno followed with a double to the right-center field gap to make it 4-1 via the unearned run.

Huntley starting pitcher Jeremy Ahillen followed with 2 scoreless innings before the Mustangs tied the game with a 3-run fourth. Anthony Andres led off with a triple and scored on a wild pitch. Anthony Zawaski followed with a single and scored one out later on Austin Bilotto's triple off the wall in left center. Soria, a sophomore, then singled to score Bilotto with the tying run.

St. Rita took its first lead, 6-4, in the bottom of the fifth. After a leadoff single by Payton, Huntley coach Andy Jakubowski removed Ahillen in favor of reliever Matt Morin. Filomeno drew a walk and Stefano Belmonte's flyball to center allowed Payton to tag and advance to third. Andres followed with a sacrifice fly to Klein in center field, but his throw home was cut off as the go-ahead run scored. The Mustangs added their sixth run on a two-out error at third base.

Huntley rallied to tie in the top of the sixth against Filomeno, who was tiring after throwing 93 pitches through five innings. With one out, Filomeno hit Zach Staab with a pitch. After walking Szytz to put two runners on, Zunica lifted Filomeno in favor of the Arizona State-bound Payton.

Sopena greeted Payton with an opposite-field single to right field to load the bases, and the Red Raiders pulled within 6-5 on a run-scoring groundout to third base by Alvarez. Klein subsequently send a groundball deep to the hole at shortstop and legged out the infield single, allowing Szytz to cross the plate with the tying run.

St. Rita's Soria singled to lead off the sixth inning, and Klein was summoned from center field to relieve Matt Morin. Klein struck out Stearns, got Payton to fly out to right field and struck out Filomeno on an 88-mph fastball to end the inning.

The Red Raiders had the winning run in scoring position in the top of the seventh but couldn't get him home. Tom Crohan was hit by a pitch to open the inning, but Payton fanned Only looking and induced a fielder's choice from Lyman for two quick outs. However, Payton hit Staab with a pitch to advance the potential go-ahead run to second. It was the third time Staab was hit by a pitch in the game and the sixth time a Huntley batter had been plunked overall.

Stefano Belmonte opened the St. Rita seventh with a basehit to right center and Andres followed with a line-drive single to the same spot. Jakubowski brought the infield in at the corners against Zawaski, whose sacrifice bunt advanced the runners. Pinch hitter John Starcevich was walked to load the bases with one out for Bilotto, and Klein struck out the No. 9 hitter on a 2-2 pitch in the dirt.

That brought up Soria. Klein fell behind 2-1 before the leadoff hitter drilled his game-winning hit just inside the foul line in right.

"I thought it was a great ballgame," Jakubowski said. "Both teams definitely competed. We jumped out to that 4-0 lead and we did everything right as far as small ball, getting people on, over, in ... Our guys play with a lot of heart, a lot of character."

The Red Raiders have a chance to go out on a winning note in their final game today.

"I don't think it's really a disappointment because it's an accomplishment," Sopena said of reaching Joliet and playing well. "We came this far, we had fun, we left everything on the field. Like coach was saying, it's a game of inches. It could have gone the other way.

"But this was an accomplishment. It's great being here even if it didn't turn out the way we wanted. It was great to have the experience."