Huntley’s persistence pays off in rout

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ELGIN – There was good reason for the anxious moments Huntley experienced early in its game with Hononegah.

Hononegah scored three runs in the first inning, and Huntley’s No. 1 starter Chris Klein struggled, throwing 48 pitches in the first two innings. Meanwhile, Indians ace Ryan Scarpetta, who sported a sub-1.00 ERA, was mowing down the Red Raiders.

Still, it was early. And Huntley was patient.

The Raiders scored three off Scarpetta in the third inning and chased him by the sixth. Three relievers backed up Klein with five scoreless innings, and Huntley rolled to an 11-3 victory in the IHSA Class 4A Larkin Sectional baseball tournament Wednesday.

“Our guys showed a lot of character,” Huntley coach Andy Jakubowski said. “They had a great approach, shortened their strokes, short and quick. [Scarpetta] had a lot of velocity. They did a great job.”

Huntley (27-9) will play the winner of today’s sectional semifinal at 10 a.m. Saturday in the championship game. Cary-Grove (24-12) meets South Elgin (20-14) at 4:30 p.m. today. C-G and Huntley split their season series and shared the Fox Valley Conference Valley Division title.

Huntley won its second regional title in school history last season but was knocked out in the sectional semifinals by C-G. The Raiders will go for their first sectional championship Saturday.

“We were trying to put the ball in play, limit our strikeouts and put the pressure on them,” said first baseman Tom Crohan, who tied the game in the third with a two-run single. “I just got a good part of the bat on it.”

Hononegah (28-7) loaded the bases on Klein in the first with a single, a double and a hit batsman. The Indians scored on Max Frost’s sharp single to right field and a pair of infield hits. Klein left the bases loaded in the second but was pulled the next inning for Jake Staab (5-1). Jakubowski said Klein, who walked the bases full in the second, had some soreness in his pitching arm.

Staab, Jeremy Ahillen and Matt Morin kept the Indians scoreless the rest of the way. Crohan finished with three RBIs, and catcher Phil Pupillo added a two-run double in the fifth and a two-run single in the sixth. The Raiders scored three in the fifth, then sealed the outcome with four in the sixth.

“We’re in every game, we keep fighting, there’s no giving up,” Pupillo said. “We turned it on later and we just kept going. I was looking big my first at-bat (a strikeout), but I stayed short after that and just shortened it up.”

Scarpetta (8-3) took the loss, striking out seven, walking three and allowing six earned runs through five innings.

“When we were up 3-0 without hitting the ball all that hard, it felt pretty good,” Hononegah coach Matt Simpson said. “We’ve seen Huntley and know there’s not an easy out in the lineup. Defensively, we fell apart and booted the ball a little bit.”