The Class 4A IHSA final four teams are set to play Friday, Joliet West will take on St. Charles East; Huntley battles Marist to advance to the State Championship on Saturday.
Take a look at the schools’ postseason runs to the State Semifinal.
Joliet West
The Joliet West Tigers have had an exciting year as they sit at 23-13 overall and they went 10-6 in Suburban Prairie Conference play.
The Tigers took on Minooka in the first round of Regional play winning 11-0. In the Regional Championship, Joliet West defeated Providence Catholic 10-1.
In the Sectional Semifinal game, the Tigers took on Lincoln-Way Central and won 2-0. Joliet West would then play Lockport in the Sectional Championship game taking a 6-5 victory.
Joliet West would take on Moline in the Super-Sectional round.
In this pitcher dual and defensive battle, we saw both teams have opportunities to win this game, but both sides kept each other off the board.
In the bottom of the fourth Alex Hughes doubled to start the inning off. She advanced to third on a single from Lauren Russell. With two outs, Taylor Schwall singled to center to score the lone run of the game. The inning ended as Russell was thrown out trying to score on the single.
For Joliet West pitcher Savannah Fierke went seven innings allowing no runs, three hits and struck out eleven. Moline’s pitchers were just as impressive LeeAnn VandeVoorde went four innings allowing three hits and no runs. Lindsey Glass threw two innings allowing four hits and one run.
St. Charles East
The St. Charles East Fighting Saints are sitting at 25-10 and went 10-4 in DuKane Conference play.
St. Charles East started their run winning the Regional Semifinal 10-0 over Conant and the Regional Final 11-1 over Schaumburg.
In the Sectional Semifinals, the Saints won over Fremd 8-2. Then in the Sectional Championship, they defeated Lake Park 4-3.
The Saints then took on Whitney Young in the Super-Sectional round.
The Fighting Saints were able to overcome four errors to win on a walk-off single.
In the top of the third Whitney Young got on the board scoring one run. After a leadoff walk to Isabelle Garcia and then a single from Briana Nylcaza put two runners on with no outs. Evelia Calderon laid down a bunt to advance the runners, but an errant throw scored Garcia and Nylcaza was thrown out trying to score.
St. Charles would respond in the bottom of the fourth, taking the lead 2-1. A walk to Katie Arrambid started the inning, and she scored on a double to center off the bat of Maddy Stout. With two outs, Lauren Luna delivered a single to give the Saints the lead.
Whitney Young tied the game in the top of the sixth inning. Shelby Jacobson singled, and she would later score on an error.
In the final frame of the game, St. Charles would draw two walks with two outs. Krista Sbarra would deliver a single scoring the winning run to advance the Saints to the State Semifinals.
Huntley
The Huntley Red Raiders have had an exciting year as they are 33-7 overall and went 13-3 in Fox Valley Conference play.
Huntley defeated Auburn in the Regional Semifinals 15-0 and then won the Regional 11-1 over Harlem.
In the Sectional Semifinal, the Red Raiders won over Barrington 6-1 and then defeated McHenry 4-3 in the Sectional Championship.
Then the Huntley Red Raiders took on Hersey in Super-Sectional play.
In the top of the first inning, Hersey was able to get out to an early lead. Makayla Tsagalis got on base on an error, and she was followed by a single off the bat of Ria Patel. Hersey would then score as Brianna Luciano delivered a single to center.
Huntley would then take the lead 2-1 after taking advantage of some errors. Marley Reicher laid down a bunt and reached on an error. Then Taylor Zielinski also got on base on an error made on a bunt attempt, Reicher would score on the play. A few pitches later, Zielinski scored on a wild pitch.
The Red Raiders would add on another run in the bottom of the fourth. Briana Bower led the inning off with a walk. With two outs, Taylor Zielinski walked, and an RBI single from Kendra Mitchell followed the walk.
Huntley’s pitcher Briana Bower went a strong seven innings allowing only four hits and striking out fifteen.
Marist
The Marist Redhawks have gone 36-2 overall in 2019 and went 14-0 East Suburban Catholic Conference play.
In the Regional rounds, Marist first defeated Proviso West 15-0 and then took home the Regional Championship 6-0 over Lyons.
Then in the Sectional Semifinal Marist defeated Sandburg 1-0 and then advanced to the Sectional Championship where they won 1-0 over Riverside-Brookfield.
Marist would advance to the Super-Sectional to play Geneva.
The Redhawks would get off to an early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first. With two outs, Angela Zedak kept the inning going with a single and set up a two-run shot off the bat of Lexi Voss.
In the bottom of the third Marist would tack on four more runs. Easton Lotus led off the inning with a single. A few batters later, Lexi Voss singled to left scoring the first run and then Cassie Lindmark drew a walk to make the score 4-0. The final two runs of the inning were brought in on a hard single to center from J Balich.
Marist would add another four runs in the bottom of the fifth inning, as Madison Garofalo singled, then stole second and advanced to third on a passed ball. Garofalo set up a single to left off the bat of K Walinski, making the score 7-1. With two outs, Easton Lotus and K Case singled to load the bases. Angela Zedak would clear the bases giving the Redhawks a 10-1 lead.
Geneva was able to score one run in the fourth and another in the sixth, but the Marist pitchers were able to keep the hitters at bay. Angela Zedak threw four innings allowing one hit and struck out two. Abby Dunning finished the game allowing one hit and striking out three.