Elgin knocks off Larkin for first regional title since 1995

The last time the Elgin Maroons won a softball regional championship, most of their current players were still in diapers.

And there's no mistaking the fact that winning has been a struggle for the Maroons this season.

But the beauty of the postseason is that everyone starts 0-0, and now Elgin is 2-0 and moving on.

Sophomore Hannah Perryman pitched what might be the best game of her varsity career and the Maroons hit the ball with authority in their 10-0 win over crosstown rival Larkin Friday in the championship game of the Class 4A Streamwood regional, Elgin's first softball postseason hardware since 1995.

"I didn't realize it had been that long," said Elgin coach Chad Dahlman. "Being a first-year coach this is a great feeling. These girls deserve it. Hopefully we can keep going in the sectional."

The Maroons (12-25) advance to the Huntley sectional on Wednesday where they will face the winner of today's Cary-Grove regional final between Cary-Grove and Grant.

Right from the start of Friday's game, one sensed it was going to be a long day for Larkin, which last won a regional title when it beat Elgin in the 2004 championship game.

Perryman walked 2 of the Royals' first 3 batters and threw a wild pitch around Lexi Smithberg's sacrifice bunt, giving the Royals runners at second and third with one out. But Perryman (11-11) struck out Megan Johnson and got Ashley Frey, who later doubled, to fly out to right to end the threat unscathed.

That was a precursor of things to come as Larkin (10-24) left 10 runners on base in the game, including the bases loaded in the fourth. Alex Buhrow and Kelsey Lodge each doubled for the Royals but they could never get a hit when they really needed one.

"When you leave runners in scoring position like that and don't get a hit ... it was a rough day," said Larkin coach Larry Hight. "But give (Perryman) credit and give Elgin credit. They came in ready, we weren't and they put it to us."

The Maroons jumped ahead in the bottom of the first off Larkin's Johnson (4-8). Senior Brandi Hernandez, who scored 3 times, led off with a single, took second on a passed ball, third on a flyout and then scored on another passed ball.

Elgin scored again in the second when Mari Aguilera reached on an error and later scored on another of Larkin's 5 errors in the game. The Maroons made it 3-0 in the third, getting a one-out double from senior Samantha Doty (3-for-4), who scored on a wild pitch.

"(Thursday) at practice I could barely lift a bat because my arm hurt so bad but it feels great now," said Doty, who missed her junior season with an arm injury. "I went through a strikeout funk for a while this year but I've got my confidence back now."

Larkin continued to threaten but could never get the hit it needed, while Elgin did. The Maroons extended the lead to 5-0 in the fourth with Rachel Roth delivering an RBI single, and then to 8-0 in the fifth when Aguilera's 2-run triple highlighted the inning. Perryman's groundout drove in Hernandez in the sixth to make it 9-0 and the game ended on the slaughter rule when Jenna Jaynes, whose 3-run walk off home run in the eighth inning Thursday beat Streamwood in the semifinals, grounded out to score Meagan Gallagher, who had singled, with the 10th and final run.

"We've been hitting the ball fairly well lately," said Dahlman, whose team had come into the postseason with a 7-game losing streak. "The way we ended the year you wouldn't have thought so but we have been hitting."

The rest was left to Perryman, who struck out seven, allowed 7 hits and walked only one after the first inning. Elgin also played errorless defense behind her.

"I practiced every day since we lost to South Elgin (in the regular-season finale) and I'm just over excited right now," Perryman said. "I'm getting into the mode and that's the best game I've pitched. Everything worked and I was hitting my spots. The defense was great today. This was a true team win."

Of consolation to Hight was losing to Dahlman, his good friend, a Larkin graduate and a former coach under Hight at Larkin.

"If I'm going to lose to anybody in the state I'm proud to lose to Chad," Hight said. "He's a good coach and he did a great job for me. I wish him the best in the sectional."