Softball: Down early, Barrington storms back to reach sectional final
Coming off a 22nd straight regional title, Barrington's softball team was hoping to extend the momentum into its own Class 4A sectional on Wednesday night at the Field of Dreams. That's exactly what the Fillies did, surging back from a 3-0 first-inning deficit to top Rockton Hononegah, 7-3.
The Fillies (28-5) will face Huntley (29-9) on Friday for the championship at 4:30 p.m.
"I was proud of our team the way they didn't give up," said hall of fame Barrington coach Perry Peterson, who earned career win No. 971 and a chance for his 15th sectional crown and 16th for the program. "They just kept competing, They work hard every day and are always trying their best. They've learned a lot of lessons through the course of the season and now those lessons are paying off."
Hononegah (30-4) hit pay day right away when catcher Dani Franz belted a 3-run homer to straight-away center field with one out as the game's fourth batter.
But the Fillies answered with 3 runs in the fourth and 4 in the fifth to earn the win.
"You've got to tip your cap to Perry," said Indians coach Dennis McKinney, who is 101-20 over the past four seasons. "He always does a great job with that group of kids. They've got a lot of tradition here so you just tip your cap and move on."
Taraschewsky moved on in stellar fashion after the 3 runs in the first inning. She did not allow another run and ended up with 5 strikeouts in an 8-hitter.
"Once we started scoring then I was like, 'OK we're back in this, we've got this' and it just went from there," said the sophomore right-hander.
Barrington tied the game in the bottom of the fourth when Emma Kavanagh (2-for-3) led off with a line drive double to left center. Reese Cullen reached on an error before Taraschewsky (2-for-3, 4 RBI) singled sharply to right center, scoring Kavanagh.
After Indians ace Aislyn Palmer, who suffered her first loss of the season, got a popup for the first out, Greta Mueller 's groundout to short brought home Cullen from third base. Freshman Harlow Engel then reached on an error which brought home courtesy runner Nina Brebach from second to even the score.
The Fillies' offense picked up where it left off in the next inning putting across 4 runs, thanks to an RBI single to right by Reese Cullen and Taraschewsky's 3-run blast over the left field fence giving her the 7-3 cushion.
"I was a little frustrated after giving up that first home run," Taraschewsky (27-5) said. "And I decided to just let loose at the plate."
Mimi Cline and Brebach also had hits for Barrington, which got some nice plays from Shannon Kenney at short. The junior threw out two runners from short while throwing on her knees to first baseman Mueller.
Palmer, also a sophomore like Taraschewsky, struck out eight. Franz, the only senior in Hononegah's batting order, clubbed her ninth homer.
The Indians' starting line features three freshmen and two sophomores.
"We're a young ballclub," McKinney said. "Like I told them when we came here, there was no way we could lose in this ballgames. We won with just the experience we gained. We made freshman and sophomore errors out there a few times. But again, we outhit them 10-9. We just couldn't get the hits to go through when we needed them to."