Softball notes: Richmond-Burton’s ‘extra’ effort secures KRC championship

Richmond-Burton softball coach Tylar Stanton noticed a certain swagger from his team in the hours leading up to Wednesday’s game against Marengo.

“They walked and they carried themselves a little bit differently in school,” Stanton said. “[Marengo] got us last time at our place, and redemption and revenge is a sweet thing. These are two great teams that have a real shot of moving throughout regionals and sectionals [in the postseason].

“They’re [Marengo] a good quality program, they do everything well. We just executed in the 10th.”

The Rockets beat Marengo, 5-3, in 10 innings, splitting the season series and preventing the Indians from winning at least a share of the Kishwaukee River Conference title. R-B turned around the next day and defeated Johnsburg, 10-8, in nine innings to earn a share of their third consecutive KRC championship.

Richmond-Burton (14-3, 8-1) can win the title outright with a victory against Harvard in its final KRC game, which was rained out Friday. Marengo (22-2-1, 8-2), which has completed its conference schedule, and R-B would share the title if the Rockets lose.

Johnsburg, last year’s co-KRC champion with R-B, was eliminated from conference title contention.

No matter how the standings shake out, R-B and Marengo know there is a strong possibility of seeing each other again down the road. Marengo is the No. 1 seed in the Class 2A Marengo Regional, and R-B is the No. 2 seed in the Genoa-Kingston Regional.

Fourth-seeded Johnsburg (8-10, 6-4), which split its two regular-season games against Marengo, also is in the Marengo Regional.

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Richmond-Burton pitcher Hailey Holtz leaps for joy after the final out of an extra-inning win in varsity softball at Marengo Wednesday evening. (Patrick Kunzer for Shaw L)

Both regionals feed into the Richmond-Burton Sectional. If both teams advance, the next time the Rockets and Indians would see each other is in the R-B sectional final. Seeing each other a third time wouldn’t be a bad thing.

“Today showed the caliber of these two teams and I’d like to see them down the road again, maybe in the sectional finals,” Indians coach Dwain Nance said after Wednesday’s loss. “Outside of a half inning, we’re pretty equally matched teams. I give our girls credit. I thought they really battled hard.

“But someone’s got to be a winner and someone’s got to be a loser and unfortunately today was not our day. We’ll bounce back and be we’ll be ready to go for the postseason.”

Warriors finding their groove: McHenry entered the season with uncertainty after graduating four players that went on to play in college. After a slow start, the Warriors have found their rhythm, averaging over nine runs a game in their past 12 games with a 10-2 record.

McHenry (13-5) is second in the Fox Valley Conference with an 8-3 record. Two of those losses are to FVC leader Huntley, which has won its past 38 conference games. The Warriors fell to Dundee-Crown, 10-4, on Thursday for their third FVC loss.

“We had a slow start and we didn’t know what we were going to be dealing with in terms of our team,” said coach Mikaela Mitsch, now in her third season. “We’re just doing the right things, we’re taking it one day at a time, and that seems to be really working for us.

“We’re not overdoing anything or thinking too much in any situation. We’re just playing.”

McHenry has a deep lineup while sophomore Channing Keppy and senior Gianna Buske have provided the Warriors with solid pitching. Sophomore first baseman Madison Harvey leads the team with a .520 batting average, followed by seniors Natalie Sorensen (.459) and Buske (.447).

Junior catcher Emma Stolzman (.418) leads the Warriors with 16 RBIs. Nine players have 10-plus RBIs or have scored 10 or more runs.

It remains to be seen if any team can catch Huntley in the FVC race, but the Warriors do own one of the area’s most impressive accomplishments with regional championships in eight of the past nine seasons.

“I think we’ve become really close as a team,” said Harvey, who collected four hits and six RBIs in a 15-6 win against Cary-Grove on Monday. “We’re all starting to work together and work for a common interest.

“At first it’s hard because you have a bunch of individuals coming from all these difference travel teams, and I think we’re really starting to mesh together. I think we’re working for the same goal, really trusting each other to pick each other up.”

Crick’s big splash: Cary-Grove’s Madilynn Crick hit one of the farthest home runs that Trojans 28th-year coach Tammy Olson can remember seeing in the first inning against McHenry on Monday. Crick pulled a 1-2 offering from Warriors ace Channing Keppy for a three-run homer and the ball splashed into the pond beyond the right-field fence.

Trojans assistant Mark Olson called Crick’s home run a “McCovey Cove” splash hit, in reference to any home run that goes over the right-field wall at San Francisco’s Oracle Park and lands in McCovey Cove on the fly.

Crick’s splash down might have been a first at C-G.

“I’ve never seen a splash down before, that was pretty impressive,” Tammy Olson said. “She got a lot of that one. That was one big splash.”

Crick added a two-run homer in the fifth to the opposite field and now leads the Trojans (8-10) with five home runs. Tammy Olson has been impressed with the maturity and growth of her sophomore catcher.

“She’s gotten more consistent with her at-bats each game,” Tammy Olson said. “She doesn’t strike out that much, and she is so strong. She’s a very strong girl, and it’s nice to see her get the payoff for that.”

Heard keeps dealing: Huntley senior Jori Heard continues to impress in the circle and at the plate for the surging Raiders (19-5), who are 18-1 since April 2. Heard has already tossed two perfect games and three no-hitters this season.

Between April 23 and 28, she fired two perfect games and a no-hitter.

The NCAA Division I Valparaiso commit is 17-5 with a 0.54 ERA, 275 strikeouts and 13 walks in 130 2/3 innings. At the plate, she leads the Raiders with a .493 batting average and 14 doubles, along with two home runs, two triples and 20 RBIs.

Huntley has won 38 consecutive FVC games, with its last loss on May 1, 2019.