Huntley wins 3rd regional in a row

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ROCKFORD – Pitcher Sam Clemons said Huntley remained a relative unknown when it came to success in athletics.

All that might soon change after the Red Raiders’ softball team claimed its third consecutive regional title with a 3-2 win against DeKalb on Saturday in the IHSA Class 4A Guilford Regional. Huntley will face Hononegah at
4 p.m. Thursday in a Woodstock Sectional semifinal.

“We haven’t had a lot of athletic success as a school,” Clemons said. “People might not know our name, but with three straight regionals, this shows we can compete.”

After surrendering a first-inning home run to the Barbs’ Rachel Lux, the top-seeded Raiders (24-12) faced an early 1-0 deficit. But Clemons stayed poised, shut down third-seeded DeKalb (14-18) and worked quickly in the circle so her teammates could get back in the batter’s box.

“I just wanted to pitch my game and not let what they are doing get in my head,” said Clemons (23-10), who went the distance and gave up five hits. “I tried to keep our defense and team in the game and keep the momentum going.”

The Raiders scored all their runs in the bottom of the fourth after being shut down by Barbs pitcher Lisa Oller through the first three innings. Oller had wicked movement on her off-speed pitches and sizzled fastballs to the corners of the plate.

But a leadoff walk to Clemons was followed by a ringing RBI double by Deana DeBosschere down the left-field line that scored Clemons and made the score 1-1. An Alex Albanese single that crept into shallow right field sent DeBosschere to third and put the Barbs’ defense in an unenviable first-and-third situation.

When Albanese broke to steal second, DeKalb decided to make a throw to second baseman Elizabeth Jilek rather than to the base. The throw was high and sailed into right field. DeBosschere scored on the error to make the score 2-1. Jordan Hogue capped the scoring with an RBI single.

Huntley managed only two hits the rest of the game, but made the most of its chances to score on a pitcher that Raiders coach Mark Petryniec said has the ability to shut down an offense.

“We had some opportunistic hits today,” Petryniec said. “Hats off to Oller. Usually one time through the order we can make adjustments, but she kept us off-balance today.”