Byline: John Radtke Daily Herald Sports Writer
The Burlington Central and St. Edward softball programs might as well send their uniforms out for some new printing when the regular season ends Saturday.
They could both have bull's eyes painted on their backs.
The Rockets and Green Wave are the top seeds in their respective sectional complexes - BC at Byron and St. Edward at Plano.
Class A regional play gets under way next week and if the seeds hold true, Central could face Marengo for the third time this season, this one a sectional title battle on May 28 while St. Edward would match up against Lisle, a team it had to cancel with two weeks ago, on the same day.
But before any of that happens, there's plenty of softball to be played and it won't be an easy rode for either local team.
Byron sectional: Central, which is 30-3 going into Saturday's season-ending nonconference doubleheader against Stillman Valley, may be the top seed in the Byron complex but Rockets' coach Scot Sutherland will be the first to tell you he thinks his club is playing in the toughest of the four regionals, even though it is at comfortable Rocket Hill.
'I think we've got the toughest regional of the whole sectional complex,' said Sutherland, who allowed his team to shave his head after it clinched the Big Northern East title Tuesday, Sutherland's first conference championship in his seven years at the helm of the program.
'I'm not whining about it - we just have to buckle down and play good softball like we have all year.'
The Rockets will open their final Class A regional on Tuesday against the winner of a Monday contest between No. 17 seed Kirkland Hiawatha and No. 14 Hampshire (8-15). Central has beaten Hampshire twice this season, but that means little to Sutherland at this point.
'It's always tough to beat a team three times,' he said.
The other side of the bracket has No. 10 Genoa-Kingston (8-16) facing No. 8 Marian Central (17-7). Marian will play Driscoll for the Suburban Catholic Conference title on Monday then face G-K in the regional on Wednesday.
Many wondered why Marian had such a low seed, but that was because one of the far western teams in the sectional ranked the Hurricanes No. 17 of 21 at the seeding meeting. The 'Canes are led by standout senior pitcher Lisa Gradishar.
'I've heard a lot of good things about Marian and Genoa played us tough,' Sutherland said. 'To win this regional, we'll have to play well.'
Central has done just that this season. Sporting a team batting average of .337, the Rockets are led offensively by sophomore second baseman Christine Holthus (.530, 23 RBI, 35 SBs), sophomore catcher Aly Prigge (.407, 30 RBI) and sophomore third baseman Carrie Sensor (.353, 18 SBs). The team is anchored by the senior leadership of shortstop Amanda Mirabella (.306, 17 RBI) and left fielder Amanda Gargantiel (.330, 17 RBI). Speedy freshman center fielder Brooke Porto (.325, 16 RBI, 16 SBs) has been solid all season as well.
The Rockets have scored 215 runs this season and allowed only 48.
But everyone knows Central's forte is freshman pitcher Erica Maisto, who is 23-3 with a 0.45 ERA. She has 140 strikeouts in 167 1/3 innings and has walked just 8 batters this season.
If something were to happen to Maisto, Sensor has been a capable backup, going 7-0 with a 1.00 ERA. She also has 2 saves.
If the Rockets face Hampshire, they'll need to keep the Whip- Purs' Abby Young (.524, 15 RBI) from coming to the plate with runners on base.
Should Central, which has won 10 regional titles in program history including two of the last three years, advance out of the regional, it would play the winner of the Oregon regional in the sectional semifinals. Byron (No. 4) is the top seed at Oregon. Central beat Byron 16-1 on April 6.
The other side of the sectional bracket has the Harvard regional winner taking on the Richmond-Burton regional champ. Dakota, now 22-7 after a 15-1 start, is the No. 3 seed and the team to beat at Harvard while No. 2 Marengo plays in the Richmond regional. The Indians will likely have to face No. 6 Richmond a third time for the regional title. Marengo beat Richmond 2-1 earlier but lost to the Rockets 2-1 at Marengo on Tuesday, a setback that denied Ron Traven's club a share of the Big Northern East title with Burlington.
The Byron sectional champ matches up against the Rock Falls sectional winner in the Byron supersectional on Memorial Day. Rock Island Alleman is the top seed at Rock Falls.
Plano sectional: St. Edward (18-5), on paper at least, should have littler trouble in a sectional that includes an 11 seed, a 13, an 18 and a 21, as well as No. 8 Plano.
The regional starts Monday with play-in games between No. 18 Willows Academy and No. 13 Immaculate Conception, as well as No. 21 Wheaton Academy against No. 11 Timothy Christian. Moving to the Elgin Sports Complex on Tuesday, the host Green Wave will play the Willows-IC winner at 4:30 p.m. while the Wheaton Academy-Timothy winner faces Plano at 6:30 p.m. The title game is slated for 10 a.m. next Saturday.
St. Edward, which is also headed to Class AA next season barring a successful appeal with the IHSA, has fashioned another fine season behind the stellar pitching of senior Jackie Sayre (12-4, 0.49 ERA, 116 Ks) and the offense of senior catcher Lissa Fehlman (.483, 20 RBI), freshman shortstop Megan Pozezinski (.394, 17 RBI) and senior second baseman Ashley Smith (.385).
Freshman Kelsey Schumann has also shown to be a capable pitcher, going 5-1 with a 0.60 ERA and nearly a strikeout per inning.
'I like that the younger girls are really hitting well,' said St. Edward coach Glen Smith. 'Megan Pozezinski is knocking the cover off the ball and Kelsey Schumann is doing a great job of pitching and hitting. I think we're coming into our own at the right time.'
If the Green Wave win their regional, their likely sectional semifinal opponent will be St. Francis (21-9). The Spartans beat the Green Wave 1-0 earlier in the season and the two are scheduled to meet again today at the Elgin Sports Complex. St. Francis is the top seed in the Paw Paw regional.
The other side of the Plano bracket will have the regional winners from Newark and Aurora Central meeting each other. No. 2 seed Lisle is the top seed at Newark and No. 3 Driscoll is the team to beat at ACC.
'Driscoll is playing awfully well right now,' Smith said.
The Plano sectional winner gets a Memorial Day date in the UIC supersectional against the St. Francis deSales sectional winner, where the host school is the top seed.
Around the horn: Does anyone want to win the Fox Valley Conference title? It looks like it'll come down to Lake Zurich, McHenry and Jacobs. Watch for Monday's Jacobs at McHenry game to go a long way in deciding the conference champ. The Golden Eagles beat McHenry 6-2 on April 25 in Algonquin. ...The rosters for the second annual Fox Valley Senior All-Star game will be released next Friday in Sports Extra. The game will be played on Monday, June 13 at Jockey Field in East Dundee, the home of the Fox Valley Renegades. The game is sponsored by the Renegades, the Northern Illinois Lightning, the Daily Herald and Cami Sports & More. ...Larkin graduate and three-time Daily Herald all-area standout Courtney LaFerle had successful reconstructive knee surgery Tuesday in Valparaiso, Ind., and is back in Elgin preparing for 4-6 months of rehab. LaFerle, a former Fox Valley Renegade who was slated to play for the Northern Illinois Lightning this summer, was injured April 26 sliding into home against St. Joseph's. Scheduled to be an umpire for the all-star game, she instead will throw out the first pitch. ...June 13, the day of the all-star game, has also been designated as World Softball Day by the International Softball Federation, commemorating the day in 1991 when softball was made an Olympic sport. ...A long long losing streak came to an end earlier this season when the struggling East Aurora softball team beat DeKalb. It was East's first Upstate Eight Conference win in softball since 1997.
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