Lombardo, Jacobs get past Huntley

At least the regional final was close.

After winning their semifinal games by a combined 55-3 score, Jacobs and Huntley proved to be fairly evenly matched in the Class 4A Huntley regional softball title game Saturday.

Behind a complete game in the circle and 3 RBI from Marissa Lombardo, the Golden Eagles won 6-3.

Jacobs (21-10), which won its first regional title since 2005 and third in program history, will be back in Huntley on Thursday to face Hononegah, which beat Harlem 6-2 Saturday night to win its own regional.

Saturday's game looked like it might be another blowout when Jacobs scored 4 times in the first inning. Jenna Teson led off with a double, Lombardo singled in 2 runs, and Nicky Chapa singled in a run.

After allowing an unearned run in the second, Huntley pitcher Taylor Larson (19-10) settled down and the Red Raiders began to chip away.

Kelsey Hagan hit a 2-run homer in the third for Huntley and made it 5-3.

"(Lombardo) tends to have one bad inning," said Jacobs coach Jeremy Bauer. "We are bend-don't-break - we talked about how in the playoffs they're going to get their hits, they're going to get their runs, they're going to make a little run. We've just got to play good defense, score runs when we get the chance and just keep going."

"I've got to give a lot of credit to (assistant) coach (Chris Taylor). He came in with a great plan of attack. We've seen Huntley three times in the regular season and there is not a lot you are going to be able to hide."

Hagan came up twice more with runners on base but Lombardo retired her both times.

"She's one of my friends. All I was thinking was that's not going to look good when we hang out later," said Lombardo.

Larson also had 2 hits for Huntley, which finishes the season 23-11 and had a string of two straight regional titles snapped. Larson doubled and scored the Raiders' first run in the second inning.

"Hats off to everything Jacobs did from Marissa on the mound, to their hitting and plating four in the first inning. They did everything it took to win a regional," said Huntley coach Mark Petryniec. "We just came up a little bit short today."

Megan Flynn was 2-for-3 with an RBI for Huntley and Larson had 2 hits. Brooke Frederiksen added 2 hits and an RBI for Jacobs.