Softball: Ruggles, Dundee-Crown silence Jacobs
Dundee-Crown knows with Loyola-bound Sydney Ruggles in the circle, one run might be all it needs.
Sophomore Alaina Azar delivered that one run Thursday in the semifinals of the Class 4A Jacobs regional, an RBI single up the middle with the bases loaded in the fourth inning.
Ruggles did the rest, striking out 11 in a 1-0 shutout that sends the Chargers into Saturday's regional championship game.
"Sydney's pitching is obviously amazing so when you get that chance to get that one run, it's a great feeling," Azar said.
No. 5 seed Dundee-Crown (19-10) will play No. 1 Barrington (30-3) at 11 a.m. Saturday for the regional title. It's a rematch of last year's regional final when Dundee-Crown lost 2-0.
"I'm excited," Ruggles said. "I'm very excited. Try to keep it low-scoring and play our game like we did against Huntley and go for it. We have nothing to lose."
No. 4 seed Jacobs (13-13) split with Dundee-Crown during Fox Valley Conference play, winning 1-0 and losing 3-1.
The Golden Eagles had a chance to strike first Thursday when Jessica Mrzlak lined a 1-out double in the first. Ruggles struck out the next two hitters to end the threat.
After striking out the side in the second, Ruggles fanned two more in the third. Dundee-Crown then went to work in the top of the fourth.
Claire Weeks led off with a single, took second on an error and third when Andrea Conway was hit by a pitch.
Azar followed with her clean single to score the only run of the game.
"I saw it coming in and I knew I had to put the ball in play to advance someone home," Azar said. "I just kept my head down and swung as hard as I could."
Jacobs' best threat against Ruggles came in the bottom of the fourth when Kerri Healy and Katie Armstrong singled to start the inning. But Ruggles calmly retired the next three hitters.
"We didn't execute our game plan," Jacobs coach Katie O'Brien said. "We practiced it all week. We had to move runners and we didn't move them."
The Eagles didn't have many runners to move getting just 3 hits while Ruggles walked 1. O'Brien credited both Ruggles and her catcher Weeks.
"Sydney knows these girls," O'Brien said. "A lot of these girls play together. Syd and Claire did a good job exposing some of the weaknesses of our batters and took advantage of that. Hats off to Syd and Claire. They are a good battery. I hope they do well Saturday. I can't be mad because I love those girls."
After striking out the first two hitters in the bottom of the seventh, Ruggles got the final out of the game when Mia DeLordo flew out to Cassidy Randl in deep center.
"It's not just me," Ruggles said. "My defense is solid, we haven't been making as many errors. That's really nice."
Delaney Garden pitched the first 4 innings for Jacobs and Armstrong the final 3, combining for 7 strikeouts and no walks.
Hannah Gestrich and Weeks both had 2 hits for Dundee-Crown who will try to turn in a similar effort against Barrington as it did in a 4-2 win over Huntley last month.
"We have to relax," Chargers coach Tracy Beatty said. "We have nothing to lose. It's like going into Huntley. The pressure is on them, they are the one seed. It's not on us. We're excited to have this opportunity."