Softball: Crystal Lake Central opens FVC play by blanking 4-time defending champ Huntley

Crystal Lake Central sophomore Oli Victorine rolled her left ankle in practice two weeks ago, leaving her status for Tuesday’s Fox Valley Conference showdown against Huntley in doubt.

The Tigers pitcher returned to action over the weekend as a hitter and smacked her first home run of the season, a grand slam. Victorine was back in her familiar place in the pitcher’s circle Tuesday and was just as grand.

Continuing a trend of strong pitching for Central, Victorine struck out six, scattered six hits and stranded seven base runners as the Tigers beat the four-time defending FVC champions 3-0 to open conference play.

“We have a small program, but if we come together and work together, we can do amazing things,” said Victorine, who burst onto the scene a year ago with a 1.49 ERA, 0.91 WHIP and 170 strikeouts in 103⅔ innings. “No matter how small or how underrated people think we are, we can just bring it.”

Few will be underrating the Tigers this year. They entered the week as the No. 7 team in the Class 3A Illinois Coaches Association poll and have been difficult to deal with early on.

Central (5-0, 1-0) received timely hitting Tuesday to defeat a Huntley (3-5, 0-1) team with only three losses in FVC play from 2021-2024.

“This is the team that everybody’s been chasing for years,” Tigers coach Brian Strombom said of Huntley, ranked 15th in 4A. “They always execute, they always put pressure on you. You’ve got to match and exceed it, and it’s tough to do.”

Freshman first baseman Lily Perocho put the Tigers in the lead with a bloop single into right field on a 1-2 count against Huntley starting pitcher Gretchen Huber (4 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 2 K) in the top of the fourth.

Perocho’s two-out hit drove in cleanup hitter Adi Waliullah, who scored her team’s first two runs of the game and went 3 for 3 with two singles.

Perocho, a 6-foot left-hander hitter, poked Huber’s pitch out of the reach of Huntley first baseman Isabelle Boskey and into the right-field grass.

“I was just thinking, ‘Oli’s doing great in the circle and she needs someone to get in that run,’ ” Perocho said. “She was doing great for us. I just thought about going to right field, and I trusted my swing.”

Like Victorine last year, Perocho’s quick rise to varsity has been a dream come true.

“I’ve been wanting to play varsity softball since I was 9,” Perocho said. “I just want to live up to my potential and have my pitchers’ back and play for my team, play for my mom and my dad.”

The Raiders made some uncharacteristic mistakes with four errors, including a pair in the seventh that led to the Tigers’ third and final run on a sacrifice fly by Liv Shaw. Central got its second run in the sixth on a long base hit by catcher Cassidy Murphy. Her line drive hit halfway up the fence in center field to bring in Waliullah.

Layla Olson entered in relief of Huber, throwing the final three innings and allowing two runs (one earned) on two hits. She struck out three. Between Huber and Olson, they allowed only four hits to the Tigers.

But Central made them count, scoring its first two runs with two outs.

Huntley expects a challenging conference race.

“It’s going to be ultra-competitive this year,” said Huntley coach Mark Petryniec, whose Raiders were no-hit by Prairie Ridge in last year’s FVC opener before they went on to win their fourth straight conference title. “Everybody’s bringing back the majority of their team.

“We’ve got some great arms, some Division-I arms in this conference, so you’ve got to bring your best every day.”