Softball: Huntley gets back at Barrington, wins 3rd sectional title in program history

BARRINGTON – Huntley’s past two softball seasons ended at the hands of Barrington in the sectional finals, so the Red Raiders couldn’t have asked for a better opportunity Friday at Barrington’s Field of Dreams.

Meeting for the eighth consecutive season in the playoffs, top-seeded Huntley celebrated a 5-3 win over second-seeded Barrington in the Class 4A Barrington Sectional for the program’s third sectional championship – all since 2019.

Huntley (30-9), which reached 30 wins for the fifth time in six seasons, advances to play No. 1 Mundelein (35-1) in a Class 4A Rosemont Supersectional at 4:30 p.m. Monday.

The Raiders are trying to get back to state for the third time after winning the school’s first state title in 2019 and placing third in 2021.

“I was here my freshman year, and this is a full-circle moment,” senior first baseman Meghan Ryan said. “We’ve prepared like crazy for this team. We changed everything up from superstitions, team breakfasts, team dinners. This is the game that gets us every year.

“This is like state to us. This is the momentum we needed to keep going.”

Barrington (28-6), which has won 22 straight regional titles, has been the team getting in the way of the Raiders’ state aspirations in each of the past two seasons. Including Friday’s result, Barrington holds a 5-3 record against Huntley during their recent string of playoff matchups.

Huntley last beat Barrington at Barrington’s Field of Dreams in a 2021 supersectional.

“When we first started getting good, the bar has always been Barrington,” said Huntley coach Mark Petryniec, now in his 20th season. “They bring out the best in us. Our style of play totally got taken away today, and we had to change up the way we played.

“We stacked the top of the order. We’re not going to steal a base [against Barrington senior catcher and Arizona commit Emma Kavanagh], so we were station to station, which is against everything we’ve been all year. Even on turf, we were going to be slow. We’ve got her pop-up time, she’s great.”

Huntley, which was the home team, fell behind 1-0 after an RBI double by Kavanagh in the top of the first inning. But the Raiders answered in the bottom half with a solo home run by Ryan (3 for 4), who hit the ball off the top of the center-field wall, just out of the reach of center fielder Mimi Cline.

Barrington again went ahead 3-1 in the fourth, getting a two-run double by No. 9 hitter Gabi Phillis. The Fillies looked to add on with a would-be sacrifice fly off the bat of Cline, but Huntley junior left fielder Ajai Bonner came up throwing to junior catcher Madison Rozanski, who made a swipe tag on Maddie Van Ryn for the last out of the inning.

The Raiders took the lead in the bottom half, sending nine batters to the plate and scoring four runs on five hits. Winter had an RBI groundout with one out, and Bonner came through with a two-run single with two outs. Ryan followed with an RBI single as Huntley took a 5-3 lead.

Huntley junior pitcher Gretchen Huber (15-5) stranded seven base runners in the complete-game win, including two in the top of the sixth after the Fillies’ first two batters reached. She got a fly out for the first out then struck out the next two batters looking.

Despite the big moment, Huber felt fine.

“[What was going through] my mind was just hit my spots,” said Huber, who scattered eight hits with five strikeouts and a walk. “Honestly, it’s not that scary.”

Huber had to get through Barrington’s No. 2, 3 and 4 hitters in the seventh, starting with Kavanagh, who hit 64 home runs during her high school career, second most in IHSA history.

“Going into the seventh, [Huber] just goes, ‘We’ve got this,’ ” Petryniec said. “I go, ‘You want to be the best, you’ve got to beat the best, and the best is coming up right now.’ This was fun. Add it to the classic Barrington Huntley matchup.”

Huntley senior Elly Winter made a difficult, off-balance snag in shallow right field for the game’s final out. Winter raced in, called off second baseman Sadie Svendsen and slid in as she caught the ball, slightly bobbling it, while falling to the ground.

“I’m going to be completely totally honest, totally my second baseman’s ball, but I did call her off,” Winter said. “The rule the coaches say is if I call [someone] off, I’ve got to to catch it. Gave it my all ... thank God I held onto it.”

“You’ve got to always trust your seniors and in the final third of the season, Elly earned her way into the starting lineup, so it’s fitting that she had that nice [catch],” Petryrniec said. “Good thing she knows how to dance because that looked like some dance moves out there.”

Barrington coach Perry Peterson felt the better team won Friday.

“Kudos to Mark and his team because they deserved to win,” Peterson said. “They got the clutch hits when the needed them. I wish them the best on Monday.”

Ryan and the Raiders, one win from state, will give it their all Monday.

“Any game could be my last game,” Ryan said. “I’m giving it my all, and I trust my team, they’re not going to let me go out on a low note.”