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Arrambide was giant Saturday. She matched zeroes with another sophomore, Huntley's Briana Bower, into extra innings. At last, the Red Raiders scored an unearned run in the the top of the eighth. Bower's 13th strikeout finished off Huntley's 1-0 win in the Class 4A state championship. The Red Raiders' 19th straight win to finish the season, and first state title, did nothing to overshadow Arrambide's heroic effort. She struck out nine, scattered six hits and repeatedly rose to the occasion with the big out. "I couldn't have asked for anything more from her," Saints senior catcher Paige Ligocki said. "What she did today was amazing." (Clark Brooks)
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Arrambide (17-8), and the Saints (26-11) were beaten by Huntley 9-0 in April, a blip on an otherwise brilliant season. On Saturday, Arrambide allowed baserunners in all but one inning, but never broke with a dominant pitcher opposite of her. Ligocki threw out a runner trying to steal second to end the second inning, and a Huntley runner was cut down at the plate on a double steal attempt to end the third. Arrambide, through it all, seemed to throw harder than in Friday's semifinal win over Joliet West. "I don't know if it was mechanics or adrenaline. Probably adrenaline. It made me take it higher," Arrambide said. "I knew Bri is a tough pitcher, it was going to be a struggle to string hits together." St. Charles East's chances were few and far between against the hard-throwing Bower (27-5), who entered the weekend with 339 strikeouts. Krista Sbarra walked to lead off the first inning, was sacrificed to second and took third on a wild pitch, but Bower came back with back-to-back strikeouts. Bower retired 13 straight batters after that, until Ligocki's one-out single in the fifth. (Clark Brooks)
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"Her rise ball, it's up and away, it makes her tough," Ligocki said of Bower. "Her movement is really good and it eats you up." Alex Wooten singled to lead of the Saints' seventh, their only other hit, but the courtesy runner was thrown out trying to take third on a bunt. Huntley (35-7), which on Friday snapped Marist's 35-game winning streak, finally broke through in the eighth. Taylor Zielinski singled to lead off, and Kendra Mitchell reached when the throw to first on a bunt was dropped. After a sacrifice bunt, Sofia Tenuta's fly ball to medium right field was caught in foul territory – Zielinski easily beating the throw home. (Clark Brooks)
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"They got their run on a sacrifice fly; that's the type of game it was," Saints coach Jarod Gutesha said. "It wasn't going to be a double in the gap that won that game. "...The fly ball was right where we couldn't possibly throw the runner out, right in no man's land. [Sbarra] made a nice throw, wasn't in time." Huntley's state title, the first in school history in any sport, was the 11th extra-inning game in championship game history, the 15th 1-0 final. (Clark Brooks)
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Bower, who had faced Arrambide a few times in travel ball, relished going head-to-head in the pressure environment. "She's a good pitcher, a very good pitcher," Bower said. "I like that. It gets my adrenaline going. It makes everybody want to get the ball and do their best." Arrambide was at her best in the playoffs, allowing a total of 11 runs in seven games. "She was lights out for us all postseason," Gutesha said. (Clark Brooks)
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"My mindset shifted to be the toughest pitcher I could be on the mound," Arrambide said. "Just the pitches I throw, where I'm locating, I think I'm having a narrower focus of where I want a ball to be. I'm never throwing a pitch empty-minded, always knowing what the purpose is." Gutesha saluted a team that never stopped believing, leading the Saints to their second state trophy in matching the 2013 state runners-up. Ligocki and fellow seniors Wooten, Maddy Stout and Sbarra led the way. "I'm just so happy to be here, especially my senior year, ending my career here," said Ligocki, who will play collegiately at Grand Valley State. "I wish it was the first place trophy I was holding, but I'm glad I'm here." (Clark Brooks)