Softball: Jacobs powers its way to Slugfest crown
There was a major power explosion in Elgin Saturday afternoon.
It was the Jacobs girls softball team exploding for 38 runs, which included a 12-run outburst in a 12-8 win over District 300 rival Dundee-Crown in the championship game of the Larkin Slugfest held at the Elgin Sports Complex.
Jacobs (8-5) claimed the title in its inaugural appearance in the tournament.
"We were excited to be invited to this tournament," said Jacobs coach Katie O' Brien. "We wanted to play game by game because we are not used to playing 3 games in 1 day. We can hit 1 through 9 and we did that today. It was a very good day for our offense."
In the title game against D-C, the entire Golden Eagle lineup collected at least 1 hit. Collecting 19 hits, Savannah Svedman had a 3-run homer and Katie Armstrong collected a solo shot in the fourth.
Providing the long ball for the tournament champion, Armstrong, the Golden Eagles' leadoff hitter, reached base 3 times and scored 3 times.
"My job as a leadoff hitter is to get on base," said Armstrong. "On the homer, I was able to get the pitch I wanted and got all of it. I knew it was gone. Hitting is contagious and everybody in our lineup 1 through 9 can hit. It is really nice to win this tournament against some good teams."
Delaney Garden, the winning pitcher in relief, collected 4 hits while Sarah Lynch, the starting pitcher, had 3.
Garden, who entered the game in the third, blanked the Chargers on 1 single in her first 3 innings.
The Chargers roughed up Garden for 3 runs on 4 hits in the sixth inning.
Garden, in 5 innings in relief, struck out 4 without a walk.
"Sarah got us to where we needed to go and Delaney was outstanding in relief," said O'Brien. "Pitching so much in 1 day, Delaney got a little tired but our offense really picked her up."
With the score tied at 5 after 2 innings, Jacobs seized control of the game with 3 in the third and 4 in the fourth.
In the third, the Golden Eagles received an RBI double from number 9 hitter Abby Ziwiski and a 2-RBI single by Lynch.
In the fourth, Svedman had a 3-run homer and Armstrong a solo homer. D-C, which collected 14 hits, got 3 hits from Hannah Gestritch and 2 each by Grace Dierwechter, Marianna Lewis and Megan Thompson.
It was the fourth straight year D-C had finished second in the tournament.
"I liked the way we battled all day," said Dundee-Crown coach Tracy Beatty. "We had a solid 3 games and we hit the ball well all day. We were able to string some hits together and score some runs."