Big plays go Crystal Lake Central’s way in win over Sycamore

SYCAMORE – Crystal Lake Central is a win away from the first sectional title in program history because of a lot of clutch performances.

Brooklyn Johnson made a diving catch in right field to rob Sycamore of a run. Oli Victorine pitched an 11-strikeout gem. And Ella Arana hit a rocket that drove in the first of the Tigers’ two runs in the fifth inning of their 2-0 win over the Spartans in a Class 3A Sycamore Sectional semifinal Tuesday.

“We’re a really small program and we’ve never won a sectional,” Arana said. “We really want to do it this year.

“I think it just shows us that we can do anything. We worked really hard. We didn’t have to hit a million home runs, we just scrapped together a couple of hits.”

The Tigers (25-6), in the sectional round for the first time since 2016, knocked off a Sycamore team that has reached a supersectional each of the past two seasons.

Thanks to a two-run fifth, the Tigers will play for the right to go to a supersectional when they face either Belvidere North or Prairie Ridge on Friday in the sectional title game.

Harper Wright led off the bottom of the fifth with a single. Sycamore starter Bella Jacobs got the next two outs. With pinch runner Meghan Gau on second, Arana launched a rocket down the third-base line that scored Gau.

“That girl, she was throwing strikes, she was spinning the ball,” Arana said. “I was really just thinking of attacking. I found a pitch I could drive and got it past the third baseman.”

Arana scored on a double off the fence in center by Makayla Malone to make the score 2-0.

Victorine got the last six Spartans (29-7-1) in order to close out the win.

“Sycamore scored 10 runs in their last game, so they’re never out of it,” Tigers coach Brian Strombom said. “So to have one run, that’s not an easy circumstance for a pitcher to contend with when they are going to see you for the third time through the lineup. So to get the second means you can make one mistake and still have that lead. That makes you a better pitcher anyway, can be a little more aggressive.”

Liv Shaw and Wright each had a pair of hits for the Tigers. Victorine allowed three hits, none after the fourth, and walked two batters.

The Spartans had runners on in each of the first five innings. Addie McLaughlin singled in the third and got to second on an error but couldn’t get any closer.

Their best chance to score came in the fourth. Ellison Hallahan was on third with two outs when Kait Williams hit a blooper into shallow right field. Johnson charged in, dove and came up with the catch for the out.

Sycamore had a chance to make a similar play in the fifth on Wright’s single that started the rally. Left fielder Bella Johnson came charging in on a shallow blooper and dove, but the ground jarred the ball loose.

And just like Malone slammed a ball off the fence for a double, Ema Durst did so for the Spartans in the first. But unlike Malone’s, no one was on base for the Spartans.

“When the lights are bright, you need something to go your way,” Sycamore coach Jill Carpenter said. “Our blooper didn’t fall, and theirs did. And that was a huge play both ways. ... We hit the fence on one, but we didn’t have anybody on. They hit the fence on one, they had a runner on. It’s just like two plays if you really stop to think about it that culminated the scoring, and they had them both.”

Bella Jacobs went the distance for Sycamore, striking out 10, walking two and allowing six hits.

Jacobs was injured most of last season. She returned this season, forming a 1-2 punch with Addison Dierschow in the circle. Carpenter said this was the first time since the 2019 state title team the Spartans had two 10-game winners.

“Bella continued to keep her team in this game,” Carpenter said. “I’ve got nothing but good things to say about her. I hope she stays healthy for us and can have a great senior year. She has nothing to hang her head on. No one on this team does.”

The season ends for the Spartans with a fifth regional title in the past six postseasons. Carpenter said she was proud of the team, which was able to win 29 games despite a tough schedule that included wins over Oswego and Yorkville, both of which won 4A regionals.

“This is probably the hardest schedule this school has ever played,” Carpenter said. “They asked for it, and they handled it well. Not every kid wants to do that. To be under that much pressure, every single game, it wears on you.